South Korea ferry disaster: footage shows crew being rescued

Footage of the captain and crew being hauled to safety from the sinking ferry Sewol was released on Monday as South Korean investigators expanded their inquiries into the rescue operation.

In the video clips released by the South Korean coastguard, the captain, wearing only a sweater and underpants, is shown leaping on to a rescue boat from the sinking ferry, which is tilting at about 45 degrees.

Others, who appear to be crew members, slide down from the bridge to the coastguard boat holding ropes. The video also shows about half a dozen people, apparently passengers, wearing lifejackets in the water near the stern of the ship.

According to Kim Kyung-il, a coastguard official, the ship's crew members did not tell rescuers that they were crew and those on the first rescue boat to arrive said the situation was so urgent that they could not check.

Victims' relatives have claimed that the government did not do enough to protect or rescue their loved ones and South Korea's prime minister on Sunday resigned over the handling of the disaster, blaming "deep-rooted evils" in society. Most of the dead and missing were secondary school students on a school trip.

The senior prosecutor Ahn Sang-don told reporters on Monday that documents and recordings were seized from a coastguard office in Mokpo, and the same would be done at an emergency call centre that received a call from a student on the ship reporting the sinking. The emergency service centre official connected a coastguard official with the student, who local media reports said was later found dead.

Prosecutors have questioned the captain, third mate and helmsman, who were on the bridge when the ship began listing, as well as another captain of the ferry who was on holiday on the day of the accident.

Ahn said that while all 15 crew members responsible for the ship's navigation had been arrested, they have not been formally charged. The seven surviving crew members who have not been arrested held non-marine jobs, such as chef or steward.

The arrested crew members are accused of negligence and of failing to help passengers in need. Captain Lee Joon-seok initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and took half an hour to issue an evacuation order, by which time the ship was tilting too severely for many people to get out. Lee told reporters after his arrest that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for passengers' safety in the cold water.

The number of dead from the 16 April sinking is 188, with 114 people believed missing. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members.

Divers on Monday renewed their search for more than 100 bodies still trapped after weekend recovery efforts were hindered by bad weather, strong currents and floating debris. Divers recovered only one body on Sunday.

Ko Myung-seok, an official with the emergency taskforce, said the government was planning to salvage the ferry once search efforts ended but that details would not be available until officials had talked to families of the victims.

The ferry was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo, according to an executive of the company that loaded it. That far exceeds what the captain claimed in paperwork – 150 cars and 657 tons of other cargo, according to the coastguard – and is more than three times what an inspector who examined the vessel during a redesign last year said it could safely carry.

Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin said the cause of the sinking could be due to excessive veering, improper stowage of cargo, modifications made to the ship and tidal influence. He said investigators would determine the cause by consulting with experts and using simulations.