Arrests have been made after a ferry ran aground on rocks off South Korea’s south-east coast, according to media reports.
All 267 passengers and crew on board the Queen Jenuvia 2 were rescued after it ended up stuck near the uninhabited island of Jogdo, off the coast of Jangsan Island in Sinan County, on Wednesday. There were no fatalities.
The coast guard said they were investigating whether negligence by the captain and the navigating officer might have caused the incident but that a full investigation was under way.
Twenty-seven people sustained minor injuries from the impact of the grounding, the coast guard said. The vessel was initially stuck but has now docked at a nearby port.
Some passengers described the incident in real time on social media.
“There was a loud bang, and then the ship tilted,” one was quoted as saying by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
“An announcement told everyone to put on life jackets, so we’re wearing them and waiting on the top deck.”
The 26,000-tonne ferry was travelling to the port city of Mokpo after departing from the resort island of Jeju, officials said.
The area is near the site of the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 that killed more than 300 people, mostly school children heading for a school trip.
The salvaged wreck of the Sewol ferry was brought to Mokpo nearly three years later.
Kim Namhyun, a diving instructor on Jeju Island, told Reuters: “I thought I might die. The sound was too loud.
“But having seen the Sewol ferry, I knew that in situations like this, you have to stay calm, move outside, wear a life jacket, and wait.”
