The captain of a passenger vessel that ran aground in South Korea's South Jeolla province last week had been absent from his ship's bridge on more than 1,000 trips through the narrow waters where the incident occurred, an investigation by the Korea Coast Guard has revealed.
The captain of the Ro-Pax ferry Queen Jenuvia II was found to have been absent from the bridge on over 1,000 trips made by the vessel through the accident zone from February 28, 2024, until last Wednesday, November 19, when the ferry ran aground on an uninhabited island near Jangsan during a scheduled voyage between Jeju and Mokpo.
The first mate was the ranking officer on the bridge on Wednesday evening (local time) as the ferry was transiting a narrow channel on autopilot whereas only manual control was permitted in the area due to the presence of nearby small islands.
The coast guard said that the captain had left the bridge and was in his cabin when the incident occurred.
The first mate was found to have been distracted on his mobile phone while the ferry was transiting the channel on autopilot. Officials said that, because the first mate was distracted, he failed to regain control of the ferry and execute a necessary course change in time, which then resulted in the grounding.
The ferry had veered nearly three kilometres off-course as a result of the first mate's failure to regain manual control.
The coast guard has sought an arrest warrant for Queen Jenuvia II's captain due to gross negligence and violation of Article Nine of the South Korea Seafarers Act, which stipulates that a captain must be in direct command of navigation when a ship is entering or leaving port and when it is transiting narrow waters.
The first mate and one of the three helmsmen have meanwhile been arrested due to gross negligence resulting in injury.
Of the ferry's 267 passengers and crew at the time of the grounding, more than 70 suffered injuries from the incident and were later treated in hospital.
The ferry was later successfully refloated and has since been towed to port.