Sewol's Grim News: Global Inaction

Op-Ed by John Guy

Grim news from Korea, and grimmer to come. Another body has been recovered from the capsized Sewol ferry. That means there are now 295 confirmed dead and nine still missing. The Sewol capsized in April with 476 passengers on board, the majority high school kids from just one school. The remaining missing are thought to be more of the students and two teachers, trapped in a cabin on a deck divers can’t yet reach.

That’s grim enough, but wait for November 11 when the court trying the hapless captain of the ferry and some of his officers will deliver its verdict. The prosecution has asked for the death penalty for the captain and life in jail for the officers.

Grim enough, and they did not cover themselves with glory. They make convenient scapegoats. But grimmer still is the simple fact that the practices which led to the capsize, an illegal and botched conversion of the vessel and routine overloading, were condoned and overlooked by the authorities for years. The captain and his crew are poor souls. They could have blown the whistle, but it would have had no effect and they would have lost their jobs.

The sinking of the Sewol was a huge whistle blow for all governments regulating ferry fleets, and for the International Maritime Organisation, which is the UN body overseeing maritime safety. The totally avoidable death of these children should have lead immediately to a deep soul searching and a massive global campaign to make domestic ferries safer.

It’s not a one-off problem. Since the Sewol a Philippine ferry, the Maharlika II, has sunk in bad weather. One hundred and five people were rescued and at least two are known to be dead, against a manifest showing 58 passengers and 26 crew. So another routine overloaded ferry sinks un remarked in a maritime disaster-prone country. Very little reporting on that globally.

And guess what has happened to ferry regulation globally so far?

Nothing.

That’s the grimmest news of all.

John Guy served on merchant ships and warships for sixteen years before becoming a ship inspector and then a journalist. He advises companies and organizations working in the global shipping industry on media and crisis management. His most recent novels are The Reluctant Pirate and The Golden Tide.