South Korean ferry sinks. Nearly 300 passengers missing.

[Darth Nostril]

Tell that to the grieving families.

[LaCroix]

Especially since in a few weeks/months when they 'might' raise the vessel, it's quite possible that there aren't any remains left.

[Borgholio]

Ferry captain and three of his crew charged with murder.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/15/world/asi ... p-sinking/

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- The captain and three other crew members of the Sewol, the South Korean ferry that sank last month, have been charged with murder, chief prosecutor in the investigation Yang Joon-jin said Thursday.

The captain, Lee Joon-seok, along with the chief engineer, and the first and second mates, could face the death penalty if convicted of the charges. But it has been nearly two decades since the capital punishment was last carried out in South Korea.

The remaining 11 crew members have been indicted on charges of abandonment and violating a ship safety act.

The prosecutor's office said the captain and three crew members were charged with murder, because they didn't use the ship's facilities at their disposal -- such as life rafts, life vests and announcements to evacuate passengers.
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Seven crew members were first to flee the ship, instead of carrying out their responsibility to save the hundreds that remained inside the ferry, the office said. Passengers were instructed not to move and to stay in place as the ferry listed.

The Sewol ferry sank en route to Jeju Island on April 16, killing 284 people and leaving 20 others still missing. Most of the passengers were students on a school field trip.

Obstacles in search efforts

South Korean officials have recovered 242 bodies found inside the ferry and 42 outside the ship.

The maritime police expects search efforts to become more difficult as the currents could strengthen over the next three days. Operations will be limited, Kim Seok-kyun, head of maritime police, said during a briefing Thursday.

The internal structure of the ship, which has been submerged for a month, is becoming weaker and more prone to collapse. Authorities are looking into the possibility of cutting into the exterior of the ship to make an entrance using the cranes situated at the accident site.

Conduct during sinking

On April 16, the order to evacuate ship was never given, prosecutors said. And none of the crew were prepared to deal with an emergency situation because they had never been trained for such a scenario.

A few days after the incident, Lee initially defended his actions, saying he had not evacuated passengers because the rescue boats had not arrived yet, and the tide was strong, and the water cold.

Footage of the captain in what looks like his underwear hopping into the arms of the rescuer, while hundreds of passengers remained inside the sinking ship, infuriated South Koreans.

Lee had not been at helm of the ferry when it started to sink.

The Sewol disaster caused widespread outrage in South Korea over lax safety standards and the failure to rescue more people as the ship foundered.

Investigators are looking at the overloading, the failure to secure cargo properly, the imbalance of weight on the ferry, and a sudden turn on the ferry as possible reasons for the Sewol's sinking.

[Irbis]

So, captain has been charged with murder, yet Ferry CEO just with negligence? What kind of sentence he is hypothetically looking at? Fine or prison?

[Thanas]

Looks like the persons who are at least as responsible for the accident will get off relatively light.

[Broomstick]

Isn't that the way of the world these days? The executives always seem insulated from the consequences of their decisions.

[Thanas]

Update: The owner of the ferry was found dead today near his vacation home. No word yet on circumstances of his death though he was dead for some time when they found him.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28413651

[Enigma]

That guy should've gone into the fried chicken business.

My guess if it is Mr. Yoo, he probably either had a heart attack due to stress or committed suicide.

[Borgholio]

Updating this with new information. South Korean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the captain of the ferry.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south ... in-n234496

GWANGJU, South Korea - South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that capsized in April, leaving 304 people, most of them school children, dead or missing. Lee Joon-seok, 68, who has been charged with homicide, should be sentenced to death for failing to carry out his duty, which in effect amounted to homicide, the prosecution told the court, resting its case in a trial of 15 crew who escaped the vessel before it sank that has taken place amid intense public anger.

Lee was among 15 accused of abandoning the sharply listing ferry after telling the passengers to stay put in their cabins. Four, including the captain, face homicide charges. The rest face lesser charges, including negligence. A three-judge panel is expected to announce its verdicts in November. No formal pleas have been made but Lee has denied intent to kill.

"Lee supplied the cause of the sinking of the Sewol ... he has the heaviest responsibility for the accident," the lead prosecutor in the case, Park Jae-eok, told the court in the south of the country. "We ask that the court sentence him to death." The prosecutors sought life sentences for the other three charged with homicide and prison terms varying from 15 to 30 years for the rest.

[Thanas]

He told the passengers to remain in their cabins and then abandoned ship. This takes a special kind of callousness and goes against every rule in the book regarding the behaviour of officers.

I don't wish him dead, but life in prison would be just fine.

[Borgholio]

I think the death penalty in this case is more for vengeance than anything else. While what he did was pretty bad, there were many errors and many people at fault for this as well. For instance, had the ferry been properly loaded, this may not have happened at all.

[Thanas]

I think the death penalty in this case is more for vengeance than anything else. While what he did was pretty bad, there were many errors and many people at fault for this as well. For instance, had the ferry been properly loaded, this may not have happened at all.

Sure. And he is - as captain - also responsible for ensuring his ship is properly loaded. As is the loadmaster.

[Teebs]

The prosecution seem to be going for a murder charge, which doesn't seem right to me. I assume Korea doesn't have the death penalty for manslaughter and I can't see how you could make a charge that he deliberately killed the passengers, as opposed to causing their deaths through gross negligence. A long prison sentence seems appropriate.

[Purple]

The prosecution seem to be going for a murder charge, which doesn't seem right to me. I assume Korea doesn't have the death penalty for manslaughter and I can't see how you could make a charge that he deliberately killed the passengers, as opposed to causing their deaths through gross negligence. A long prison sentence seems appropriate.

Well he did tell them to stay in their cabins. So he quite laterally ordered them to stay and die. Does that count?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Given that they shoot people in China for corruption, somehow I'm not the slightest least even batting an eyelid over this.

[Thanas]

The prosecution seem to be going for a murder charge, which doesn't seem right to me. I assume Korea doesn't have the death penalty for manslaughter and I can't see how you could make a charge that he deliberately killed the passengers, as opposed to causing their deaths through gross negligence. A long prison sentence seems appropriate.

Telling them to stay in their cabins, then abandoning ship first (when there were children in the cabins to boot) looks like pretty clear cut murder to me.

[Dominus Atheos]

See, the captain and officers (insofar as there are "officers" on a ferry) probably have a legal duty to ensure the safety of any and all passengers even at the cost of their own lives, which is why abandoning ship before the passengers were safe results in harsh criminal charges.

The problem I have is that according to the article, the Koreans are charging everyone with harsh criminal charges right down to the bellboys and cooks. I don't think that the cooks on a sinking ship have a legal responsibility to die.

[Thanas]

Are you a member of the crew? Are you briefed on emergency procedures? Were you in a potential position to help and did nothing and and abandoned ship before the passengers were off? If the answer is yes to all three, then charge them.

[Dominus Atheos]

What actions should the crew have taken that would not result in their death or imprisonment?

[Jub]

What actions should the crew have taken that would not result in their death or imprisonment?

They could have tried to get the crew into lifeboats perhaps? Part of being crew (of any kind) on a ship is that your life comes after the lives of your passengers, so everybody from the fry cook to the captain should have been working to save their charges.

[Thanas]

What actions should the crew have taken that would not result in their death or imprisonment?

Well, for starters, how about not herding them into the cabins of a sinking ship? How about to get them on deck and distribute lifebelts? How about launching boats and liferafts to get the people off or at least give them something to keep them afloat until the nearby fishermen fish them out? Or how about doing just anything besides not abandoning children inside a sinking ship?

[Dominus Atheos]

What actions should the crew have taken that would not result in their death or imprisonment?

Well, for starters, how about not herding them into the cabins of a sinking ship? How about to get them on deck and distribute lifebelts? How about launching boats and liferafts to get the people off or at least give them something to keep them afloat until the nearby fishermen fish them out? Or how about doing just anything besides not abandoning children inside a sinking ship?

Thanas, i'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you aren't being deliberately dishonest. The lower-level crew, the cooks and the bellboys, what should they have done that wouldn't result in death or 15-30 years of imprisonment?

[Thanas]

And I'll give you the courtesy of not being a complete moron and not knowing that every member of the crew is supposed to be trained in those procedures, especially stewards/bellboys who have actual contact with passengers. They all could and should have done the above if they were able or in a position to help.

A trial will determine which of them were and I got no problem with that.

[Simon_Jester]

This is the class of crime for which I think the death penalty is justified, whatever we think of the actions of ordinary private criminals.

There are certain classes of people in our society to whom we entrust literal life and death decisions. And we don't just trust them to make those decisions in the 'smart' way; we also place trust in their personal integrity, their willingness to accept self-sacrifice.

When a person in a position like that makes a decision that not only results in death, but does so through a profound breach of their professional integrity... basically, it causes major damage to the public trust and our ability to function. Passenger travel on the sea would seem far more intimidating and far less likely if we took for granted that the crew's first actions would be to save themselves while locking our children in cabins to drown.

So such actions become a form of worse-than-murder, murder that strikes at the core of our ability to live as a society rather than as a bunch of fearful solitary animals or tiny xenophobic tribes. And when they are committed out of, essentially, a mix of blind stupidity and personal cowardice... well.

I think a just magistrate could reasonably say, more or less:

"So, you thought your own life was that much more precious than your duties that you were willing to throw away everyone else to save it? So much so that you didn't even think and follow your own procedures in an attempt to keep people alive? Leaving you with the thing you destroyed so much to save would be rewarding you for this monstrous conduct; the sentence is death."

[Jub]

This is the class of crime for which I think the death penalty is justified, whatever we think of the actions of ordinary private criminals.

There are certain classes of people in our society to whom we entrust literal life and death decisions. And we don't just trust them to make those decisions in the 'smart' way; we also place trust in their personal integrity, their willingness to accept self-sacrifice.

When a person in a position like that makes a decision that not only results in death, but does so through a profound breach of their professional integrity... basically, it causes major damage to the public trust and our ability to function. Passenger travel on the sea would seem far more intimidating and far less likely if we took for granted that the crew's first actions would be to save themselves while locking our children in cabins to drown.

So such actions become a form of worse-than-murder, murder that strikes at the core of our ability to live as a society rather than as a bunch of fearful solitary animals or tiny xenophobic tribes. And when they are committed out of, essentially, a mix of blind stupidity and personal cowardice... well.

I think a just magistrate could reasonably say, more or less:

"So, you thought your own life was that much more precious than your duties that you were willing to throw away everyone else to save it? So much so that you didn't even think and follow your own procedures in an attempt to keep people alive? Leaving you with the thing you destroyed so much to save would be rewarding you for this monstrous conduct; the sentence is death."

I think you've nailed it here Simon.