Transcripts reveal crew's confusion when South Korean ferry sank
JINDO, South Korea - Transcripts released Sunday show the crew of the ferry that sank off South Korea's coast was crippled by indecision. That lack of action, authorities believe, was deadly.
On Sunday, families of those still missing blocked the caravan of South Korea's prime minister, demanding answers, as divers began pulling bodies out of the water.
Bodies came in on a police boat Sunday morning and were carried ashore in a grim, somber procession.
As names were added to the list of the dead, for some it was too much to bear.
Relatives of those still missing protested the slow rescue, confronting police on the street. Bae Sun-ok was among them.
She was sobbing by the water on Saturday. But Sunday, her tears turned to anger.
"I've heard they are all dead," she said. "Bring me the body so that I can see the face and hug my child."
When the ferry got into trouble, the captain had left the 25-year-old third mate steering the ship. It was her first time navigating that stretch of water.
Prosecutors and police say the third mate fainted during questioning.
Half an hour after the ferry made its distress call, a crew member asked: "If the ferry evacuates passengers, will you be able to rescue them?"
The reply: "At least make them wear life rings and make them escape!"
A crew member repeats: "If the ferry evacuates passengers, will they be rescued right away?"
"Don't let them go bare - at least make them wear life rings and make them escape!" was the response from land.
"We could not get to the passengers because there was such a steep slope," he said.
Oh said the boat was tilted too much to allow for an evacuation. but why was the evacuation order not issued earlier?
"That was a special privilege and right of the captain," Oh said, speaking in Korean."We cannot move until the captain tells us we can move. We cannot act independently."
The crewman said he did not know what wrong, saying only the captain and the person at the helm know that. Oh said the day the ferry sank was a nightmare and he is just sorry he couldn't rescue more people.
