Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
JINDO, South Korea (AP) — The four crew members from a sunken South Korean ferry who were arrested today have appeared in court.
In all, 22 of the 29 members of the ferry's crew survived, and nine of them -- including the captain -- have been arrested or detained in connection with the investigation.
The four who were arrested today talked to reporters after the court hearing, with their faces hidden by caps, sweatshirts and masks. One said the crew had tried to correct the ferry's listing early on, but that "various devices" failed to work. The crew member said they reported the emergency and tried to launch lifeboats, but the ferry was tilted too far.
The captain has said he waited to issue an evacuation order because the current was strong, the water was cold and passengers could have drifted away before help arrived. But maritime experts said he could have ordered passengers to the deck — where they would have had a greater chance of survival — without telling them to abandon ship.
%@AP Links
APPHOTO SEL114: Searchers and divers look for people believed to have been trapped in the sunken ferry Sewol near buoys which were installed to mark the vessel in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 22, 2014. One by one, coast guard officers carried the newly arrived bodies covered in white sheets from a boat to a tent on the dock of this island, the first step in identifying a sharply rising number of corpses from the South Korean ferry that sank nearly a week ago. (AP Photo/Ahn Yung-joon) (22 Apr 2014)
<<APPHOTO SEL114 (04/22/14)££
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
