Divers retain search as South Korea Ferry Probe Turns to cargo

Divers retrieved more our bodies from a South Korean ferry that sank last week, as investigators grew to become their interest to whether or not the vessel were carrying more cargo than it became designed to keep.

The legit loss of life toll reached 159 nowadays, Ko Myung Suk, director preferred of the device and technology bureau at the Korea Coast defend, stated in a televised briefing. the overall is possibly to attain 302, and not using a survivors observed for the reason that 174 of the 476 passengers and team have been rescued on April sixteen, the day the ‘Sewol’ sank off the Korean peninsula’s southwest coast. about seven hundred divers are focusing their search at the 0.33- and fourth- degree passenger cabins, Ko said.

The vessel’s captain and six of its group individuals were arrested, even as forty one other group members and officers from the ship’s owner and operator Chonghaejin Marine Co. and related organizations were barred from overseas journey, prosecutor Yang Joong Jin stated through smartphone from Mokpo. The research team is still seeking to confirm if the vessel become sporting too much cargo and if that contributed to the sinking, he stated.

“It seems that each one they cared approximately at Chonghaejin Marine is the quantity of the shipment and no longer the actual weight, because the corporation costs by quantity,” Yang stated. “we can announce the cargo weight when it’s confirmed.”

Repeated calls to Chonghaejin Marine weren’t replied.

Investigators have stated the probe consists of whether expansion work on the ferry contributed to its sinking by using making it volatile. The 20-yr-antique Japan-made ferry had a fifth-deck brought to enhance capacity to 956 passengers and team, 116 more than while Chonghaejin Marine sold it from jap ferry operator A-Line in October 2012.

ship changes

The changes passed safety inspections by way of the Korean sign in of transport, an respectable at the inspector advised Bloomberg ultimate week, asking now not to be named bringing up internal policy. The legitimate didn’t touch upon how a great deal shipment the refitted ferry changed into designed to maintain.

After the redecorate, the ferry had a maximum cargo potential of 987 lots, compared with 2,437 lots formerly, the workplace of opposition lawmaker Kim Yung Rok said in an e-mailed statement, bringing up statistics from Korean check in.

Chonghaejin Marine professional Kim Jae Beom indicated remaining week the ferry wasn’t overloaded, in feedback broadcast through YTN. It left Incheon port on April 15 with 3,six hundred lots of shipment, compared with a most restriction of 3,960 heaps, he stated.

Korean check in didn’t go back calls looking for remark today.

The vessel became built by way of Japan’s Hayashikane Dockyard Co. in 1994 and had no injuries all through 18 years of operation in Japan, in line with Takaharu Miyazono, a spokesman for A-Line.

financial Probe

The probe will even consist of the budget of Chonghaejin Marine, its associated groups and proprietor Yoo Byung Eun, in line with Kim Hoe Jong, a prosecutor in Incheon, the Sewol’s departure port and wherein the company has offices. Prosecutors raided Chonghaejin Marine’s Incheon offices on April 17.

“The target of our probe consists of the proprietor family led through Yoo Byung Eun, specializing in any embezzlement and belongings hid throughout associates,” Kim said through telephone nowadays. “another prosecutor is investigating corrupt acts inside the marine transportation enterprise, which appears to be customary throughout the enterprise and in the institutions supervising it.”

Any embezzled budget or different assets might be used for reimbursement for sufferers and their households, he stated.

Privately-held Chonghaejin Marine posted an running lack of 785.four million won [$755,187] final year on sales of 32 billion [$30.77 million] received, in step with its 2013 audit filed to the regulatory financial Supervisory provider on April 18,  days after the sinking. The enterprise had coins reserves of 622 million won [$598, 053], overall assets of 33.1 billion won [$31.8256 million] and 26.6 billion [$25.586 million] won of liabilities as of December, the audit submitting showed.

ownership shape

Chonhaiji Co., a intently-held maker of vessel elements, owns 39 percent stake in Chonghaejin Marine, the document suggests. Chonhaiji is forty three percentage-owned by every other unlisted employer I-One- I Holdings Co., whose biggest shareholders are Yoo Hyuk Gi and Yoo Dae Kyoon, according to the groups’ audit reports.

there is no mention of Yoo Byung Eun in any of the audit reports of Chonghaejin Marine, Chonhaiji or I-One-I Holdings.

attempts to reach Yoo via Chonghaejin Marine weren’t successful.

A church operated by way of Yoo Byung Eun’s family is likewise being investigated as a capability source of slush funds, prosecutor Yang in Mokpo said.

The Sewol is insured through Meritz hearth & Marine coverage Co. for as much as 7.eight billion received [$7.5 million] for the duration ending Oct. 4, 2014 and an additional three.6 billion gained [$3.5 million] by means of the Korea transport affiliation, in line with the audit record. Chonghaejin additionally has an coverage coverage to cover reimbursement legal responsibility of up to $10 million for the Sewol.

preceding Incident

The Sewol sinking was the second coincidence in much less than a month involving a Chonghaejin ferry, after its “Democracy No. 5” collided with a fishing boat close to Incheon past due ultimate month, and not using a casualties, a corporation respectable said final week, asking not to be named mentioning agency coverage.

some Sewol group individuals told prosecutors they didn’t acquire protection schooling, prosecutor Yang has said. The employer’s audit record confirmed it spent handiest 541,000 received [$5,202] on group schooling ultimate 12 months, even though it’s not clear if training is blanketed below other fee items.

more than two thirds of the passengers on the vessel were a set of 339 college students and instructors from Danwon excessive college, near Seoul. The incident may be Korea’s worst maritime disaster because the ‘Namyoung’ ferry sank in 1970, killing 323.

President Park Geun Hye’s approval rating slipped to 57 percentage the previous day after attaining as excessive as seventy one percentage on April 18, the day after she visited victims’ families near the website of the sinking, Lee Taek Soo, head of Seoul-primarily based polling company Realmeter, said on his Twitter feed today. The drop in approval appears to be pushed by unhappiness at the authorities’s managing of the disaster, Lee said.