South Korean Authorities Arrest Head of Sewol Ferry Company

Head of Chonghaejin Marine, the company that owned the ill-fated ferry Sewol, which sank on April 16th killing 269 people, was arrested Friday by the South Korean prosecutors, writes the Associated Press.

The country is extending the investigation into the tragedy as the public anger against the government increases ever more.

The ferry is believed to have sunk due to overloading and Kim Han-sik is accused of having known about the storage of three times more cargo than allowed.

Four more employees of Chonghaejin Marine had also been detained along with the captain and the fourteen crew, who are facing charges for negligence and abandoning of ship.

Thirty five people are still being searched for but are feared dead having in mind that over the past three weeks divers had only recovered bodies from the wreck.

The search is further hampered by low visibility and floating debris inside the ferry’s hull.

The ferry was carrying around 475 people, including 325 students from a high school in Ansan, just south of Seoul, when it sent out a distress signal on April 16th at 8:58 a.m. in waters 20 kilometers off the island of Byeongpoong.

[mappress]
World Maritime News Staff, May 11, 2014; Image: Wikimedia