South Korea's government has been ordered to compensate the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking. It was the first Seoul was found to be liable for the disaster, which killed 304 people, including school children.
Image: Getty Images/South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries
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A court in South Korea recognized the government's co-responsibility for the first time on Thursday over the Sewol ferry disaster that killed hundreds of passengers, many of whom were students.
Inadequate safety measures on board as well as botched rescue efforts were responsible for the 2014 disaster that killed 304 people.
The Seoul Central District Court ordered the government and the ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine to pay the families 200 million won ($175,000; €151,000) for each victim. They were also ordered to pay additional compensation to the victims' families ranging from 5 million won to 80 million won.
It was not immediately clear whether the ferry operator and the government would appeal the decision.
Ferry wreck recovery could bring closure to victims' families
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Scores of school children killed
The high number of children who died from the Sewol ferry disaster as well as faulty rescue efforts shocked South Korea, with many angry with former President Park Geun-hye and her administration.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the Sewol ferry was structurally unsound, overloaded with passengers and going to fast when it turned and capsized off the country's southwest coast on April 16, 2014.
The crew of the Sewol abandoned the sinking ferry after telling passengers to remain in their cabins, court documents said.
Over two-thirds of the 476 passengers on board the vessel were children on a school trip, many of whom died trapped in their cabins while following the crew's orders.
South Korea's Coast Guard also failed to rescue the passengers and maintain control of the ship, the court said.
The Sewol's captain was found guilty of homicide in 2015 and given a life sentence. Former President Park is currently serving a 24-year jail term on corruption charges and has denied accusations that she failed to react quickly to the disaster.
rs/kms (dpa, Reuters)
South Korea: sunken Sewol ferry pulled up
Three years ago, the Sewol ferry disastrously capsized and drowned killing over 300 people aboard in one of the country's worst maritime accidents. The wreckage has now been pulled back to the surface.
Image: Reuters/Yonhap
1,073 days under water
South Korean salvage workers on Thursday managed to lift the sunken ferry back up, exactly 1,073 days after it sank. Images showed one side of the 145-metre-long, 6,825-ton ship above the waves between two giant salvage barges. A consortium led by China's state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. was awarded the 85.1 billion won ($76 million, 70 million-euro) contract in 2015 to salvage the ship.
Image: Reuters/Yonhap
A technical feat
The process began last year with divers installing a total of 33 "lifting beams" underneath the wreck - often by digging through the seabed below the ferry. The lifting beams were then linked on both ends by 66 steel cables to two giant barges floating on either side of the vessel, which since Wednesday have pulled up the cables in tandem.
Image: Reuters/Stringer
Hope for victims
South Korea has said the most important goal of the salvage is to search the giant ferry for the bodies of nine victims still unaccounted for. This has also been a key demand of the victims' families. Once it's at the port, investigators will search the interior for bodies or clues to what caused sinking. The photo here shows a family member overseeing the rescue work from afar.
Image: Reuters/Yonhap
A catastrophe
Over 300 people, most of them students on a school trip, died when the vessel sank on April 16, 2014, into violent seas off the nation's southwestern coast. While the exact cause of the accident is still unclear, it is widely blamed on overloaded cargo, improper storage and other negligence.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Sluggish rescue
The ferry captain, Lee Joon-seok, abandoned the ship while most of the passengers were still on board. He was later sentenced to life in prison for "murder through willful negligence" and 14 other crew members were given terms ranging from two to 12 years. The public outrage over what was seen as a botched rescue job by the government contributed to the recent ouster of Park Geun-hye as president.
Image: Reuters/Korea Pool/Yonhap
Shipped to Mokpo
Once the wreck is raised to 13 meters, it will be moved onto a semi-submersible ship, which will carry it to the port of Mokpo, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) away. The whole process, which involves emptying the Sewol of water and remaining fuel once it's loaded on that semi-submersible vessel, is expected to take about two weeks.
