OT: Korean Ferry disaster

[kato13]

I generally don't like to post OT posts, but my girlfriend (who lives in ROK) is quite shook up over this and is very interested in how this is being portrayed world wide.

While I feel there is much blame to be put on the captain's shoulders my gf feels this is also a failure from a rescue perspective. I am not one to quickly place blame, but she has a well earned distrust of what her government tells her. In my time in Asia I have found the countries there can be very hard on individuals, very easy on corporations, and their governments are reluctant to admit anything that will cause them to lose face.

When I first heard the death toll I assumed the sinking occurred with the following factors

• Darkness
• High Waves
• Significant distance from shore and or rescue boats
• Rapid sinking
• Very Cold Water

Apparently none of these are true.

Actually when you compare this rescue to the Titanic sinking there should have been every advantage compared to it. With the notable exception that the titanic took 2 hours 40 min to sink and the Sewol took 2 hours.

The Sewol rescuers had daylight, 10-12 degree C water (compared to -2C), dozens of nearby ships, a few kilometers from shore(compared to 640km) calm seas, and over 100 years of technological and safety advancement, yet a greater percentage of passengers died.

Passenger survival rate
Titanic 37.8%
Sewol 34.0%

I want to be clear I feel the captain probably has well over 50% responsibility even if I find there were colossal mistakes in the rescue. However if mistakes were made at other levels (be it in training, corporate action, or government response), I don't feel that those should be glossed over, because a villain has be found.

Thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Thanks