New evidence shows that the sunken South Korean ferry did not make a sharp turn shortly before the disaster, but changed course much more gradually, it has emerged.
Full data from the Sewol’s automatic identification system, an on-board transponder used for tracking, showed that the ship in fact made a J-shaped turn before listing heavily and ultimately sinking last week, leaving more than 300 people dead or missing.
A ministry of ocean and fisheries official said on Friday that the vessel had taken a sharp turn, but another official said yesterday the AIS data had been incomplete and the true path of the ship became clear when the information was fully restored.
The cause of the disaster is not yet known. The third mate, who has been arrested, was steering at the time of the accident, in a challenging area where she had not steered before, and the captain said he was not on the bridge at the time.
Authorities have not named her, though a colleague identified her as Park Han-gyeol.
Meanwhile, more than 100 bodies have been retrieved from the wreckage of the ferry.
Dozens of police formed a cordon around the dock on Jindo island as the latest bodies arrived. The death toll has shot up since the weekend when divers found a way to enter the submerged ferry. Officials said today the fatalities had reached 104.
The ferry sank with 476 people on board, many of them pupils from a high school.
Families waited for word of their loved ones, trying to piece together small clues written on a white signboard, before finally getting enough information to make a positive identification.
Lee Byung-soo said when he saw his 15-year-old son’s body in a tent he knew he was dead, but wanted so much for him to be alive. “Stop sleeping!” the lorry driver yelled as he hugged Lee Seok-joon. This type of heartbreak awaits the families of about 200 people still missing from the submerged Sewol, or at least those whose relatives’ bodies are recovered.