JINDO, Apr 19 (AFP): The arrested captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized three days ago with 476 people on board defended his decision to delay its evacuation, as divers Saturday spotted bodies inside the submerged vessel.
Investigators arrested Lee Joon-Seok and two of his crew early in the morning. All three have been criticised for abandoning hundreds of passengers trapped in the ferry, as they made their own escape.
Lee was charged with negligence and failing to secure the safety of passengers in violation of maritime law.
Thirty-two people have been confirmed dead in the disaster, but 270 are still missing-most of them children on a high school holiday trip.
As the arrests were being made, dive teams who had spent two days vainly battling powerful currents and near zero visibility, finally penetrated the passenger decks of the 6,825-tonne Sewol.
"Civilian divers spotted three bodies through a window," a senior coastguard officer said.
"They attempted to get in and retrieve them by cracking the window, but it was too difficult," he said in a briefing to relatives of the missing.
Relatives of the missing passengers, who have been sleeping in a gymnasium on Jindo island near the scene of the disaster, were shown video footage from one dive.
Korea ferry captain defends actions, bodies seen in ship
FE Team | Published: April 20, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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