re: Vice Principal of South Korean students on sunken ferry hanged himself

I have to say, I am sure the captain could have done a lot more for the ship, but reading all of this I don't think he should be arrested

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The ship's 69-year-old captain has also come under scrutiny after witnesses said he was among the first to escape the sinking vessel that was on a 400-km (300-mile) voyage to Jeju.

According to investigators, Captain Lee Joon-seok was not on the bridge at the time the Sewol started to list sharply, with a junior officer at the wheel.

Prosecutors on Friday issued arrest warrants for Lee, the officer at the wheel and one other crew member for failing in their duty to aid passengers.

"I'm not sure where the captain was before the accident. However, right after the accident, I saw him rushing back into the steering house ahead of me," said Oh Young-seok, one of the helmsmen on the ship who was off duty and resting at the time.

"He calmly asked by how much the ship was tilted, and tried to re-balance the ship," said Oh, who was speaking from a hospital bed in the city of Mokpo on Friday, where the injured have been taken.

NORMAL PRACTICE

Handing over the helm is normal practice on the voyage from Incheon to Jeju, which usually takes 13.5 hours, according to local shipping crew.

Divers gained access to the cargo deck of the ferry on Friday, although that was not close to the passenger quarters, according to a coastguard official.

Other coastguard officials said that divers made several attempts to reach the passenger areas but failed.

"We cannot even see the ship's white colour. Our people are just touching the hull with their hands," Kim Chun-il, a diver from Undine Marine Industries, told relatives of the missing.

The ferry went down in calm conditions and was following a frequently travelled route in familiar waters. Although relatively close to shore, the area was free of rocks and reefs.

Lee has not commented on when he left the ship, although he has apologised for the loss of life.

He was described as an industry veteran by the officials from Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd, the ship owner, and others who had met him described him as an "expert".

"I don't know why he abandoned the ship like that," said Ju Hi-chun, a maritime author who interviewed the captain in 2006 as one of the experts on the route to Jeju island.

But he added: "Koreans don't have the view that they have to stay with their ship until the end. It is a different culture from the West."

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