SEOUL , APR 29 -
South Korea's coastguard Monday released a video showing the
trouserless captain of a sinking ferry scrambling to safety as hundreds
remained trapped inside -- a move expected to intensify criticism of the
crew over the disaster.
The 10-minute video -- taken by rescue officials and aired on the YTN
news channel -- shows 69-year-old captain Lee Joon-seok, wearing a
sweater and underpants, hastily escaping from the bridge of the tilting
ship before it sank on April 16.
All 15 of the surviving crew responsible for sailing the huge ferry are
in custody, facing charges including negligence and abandoning
passengers.
Victims' families have bitterly criticised the official response to the
disaster, saying delays in accessing the submerged ship may have robbed
any survivors of their last chance to make it out alive.
The video attracted caustic online comment.
"Look at the captain running out of the ship without his pants on. How
pathetic. Can't believe he didn't think about all the children trapped
there while he rushed so quickly to save his own life," said one user.
Prosecutors Monday carried out a series of raids, including on a
coastguard office, as part of their widening investigation into the
disaster that left 300 dead or missing.
Divers trying to search the wreck of the upturned Sewol, which capsized
with 476 people on board, were frustrated for a third straight day by
atrocious weather and dangerous conditions.
Despite more than 60 hours of operations since Friday by divers trying
to penetrate the flooded interior, only two more bodies have been
recovered and 113 are still unaccounted for.
The confirmed death toll from one of the country's worst ever maritime
disasters stood Monday at 189. Most of the missing and dead were high
school students.
- Relatives' fury at delay -
Strong currents have also worsened fears that bodies could drift free and be scattered.
Nets have been thrown up in seas around the ferry, but no finds have yet been reported.
Park Seung-Gi, a spokesman for the government's Joint Task Force which
is co-ordinating actions, vowed Monday to redouble efforts to prevent
bodies getting lost at sea.
Special teams have been set up to search underwater around the sunken
vessel, as well on the sea surface, nearby islands and shores, he said.
Another official said China and Japan would be asked to contact South
Korea if they find any unidentified bodies on their shores.
In deeply Confucian South Korea, the proper burial of bodies -- often
in the deceased person's home town -- is considered a way to show
respect for the dead and to allow their soul to rest in peace.
South Korea remains in a state of national mourning, as furious
relatives and the public at large cast around for someone to blame for
one of the country's worst maritime accidents.
The video released Monday showed the open decks of the ship nearly
empty, as crew repeatedly instructed passengers to stay in their cabins
until it became impossible for them to evacuate because the ship was
tilting too much.
The delay in the crucial final hours -- when most crew members fled the
ferry -- sparked outrage that many lives could have been saved if
passengers had received timely instructions.
Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won tendered his resignation on Sunday,
admitting he had not been up to the task of overseeing the official
response. He was told by President Park Geun-Hye to stay in his post
until the recovery has finished.
The probe into the sinking has expanded from the ferry operator,
Chonghaejin Marine, and its affiliates, to state ship safety inspectors
and even sea traffic controllers amid fury over lax safety oversight and
delayed rescue efforts.
On Monday prosecutors raided the coastguard office in the southern port
of Mokpo to probe allegations that it had failed to respond quickly
enough to a passenger's emergency call.
The office received the call -- reportedly from a teenage boy -- a few
minutes before the ship sent its first distress signal to sea traffic
controllers.
During his call, the boy was bombarded with questions about the ferry's coordinates and the number of people on board.
A coastguard official later told reporters they had mistaken him for a
crew member after he was transferred from another emergency call centre.
That centre in the southern province of South Jeolla is also being investigated for signs of negligence.
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