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a south korean yacht The plane carrying 267 passengers and crew became trapped after the first officer became distracted by his mobile phone. Coast Guard Said.
The ship crashed on an uninhabited island off the country’s southwest coast.
All 246 passengers and 21 crew members were brought to safety and the ferry was towed to port on Thursday. At least five of them suffered minor injuries in the accident.
The incident occurred just after 8 pm local time on Wednesday as the ship was sailing from the southern island of Jeju to the southwestern port city of Mokpo.
The organization’s commissioner, General Kim Yong-jin, said the accident could have been caused by the captain or navigational officer’s mistake, but the coast guard will conduct a thorough investigation.
A coast guard official also told AFP that preliminary investigations indicated that “the officer responsible for steering was looking at his mobile phone and allowed the autopilot to take control in an area where the vessel should have been manually operated”.
“As a result, the ship missed the appropriate time to change course, turned towards the uninhabited island and ran aground,” the official told the French news agency.
In the accident area, a narrow sea channel surrounded by small islands near the coast, ships are usually steered manually without using the autopilot, said Choi Jae Gon, an official with the Mokpo coast guard. “Since it is a narrow coastal area, it is a passage that requires careful navigation,” he said.
Officials clarified that the crew members were not intoxicated.
A loud bang startled passengers during the night, causing panic and confusion, passenger Kim Namhyun said.
“I thought I was going to die. The sound was so loud,” said Kim, 51, a diving instructor on Jeju Island. “But after seeing the Sewol ferry, I knew that in situations like this, you have to stay calm, go out, wear a life jacket and wait,” Kim said, referring to the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014. The footage shows passengers wearing life jackets waiting to be transferred to rescue boats.
The Coast Guard is expected to file criminal charges against the operator due to the “apparent negligence” that caused the ship to crash.
According to video footage and photographs shared on social media, the 26,500-tonne ferry suffered damage to its lower hull.
In the wake of the accident, the President lee jae myung Ordered “rapid rescue efforts” to bring passengers and crew to shore and asked officials to provide regular updates to the public.
This incident refreshed memories south korea In 2014, more than 300 people died when a ferry sank. The wreck of that Sewol boat was brought to Mokpo about three years later.