SEOUL: South Korea’s coast guard launched an investigation on Thursday into a ferry that ran aground overnight, arresting the first officer and an Indonesian crew member for suspected gross negligence, officers said.
The two were at the helm of the vessel and are suspected of waiting too long to override the autopilot, allowing the ship to run into an uninhabited island in a busy passage approaching the southwestern port of Mokpo, the coast guard officers said.
The 26,546-tonne ship, with a passenger capacity of 1,010 and multiple decks for cargo and passenger vehicles, ran aground as it approached Mokpo from the southern island of Jeju but remained upright as all 267 people on board were rescued.