The Korea Coast Guard, which is working to determine the cause of the large car ferry Queen Jenuvia II that ran aground on an uninhabited island near Sinan County, South Jeolla, is investigating controller A at the Mokpo Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) center. A was found to have personally turned off the route deviation alarm at the time of the accident.
According to the Korea Coast Guard on the 25th, the Mokpo Maritime Police Station is looking into whether A was negligent for failing to detect signs of abnormality in the Queen Jenuvia II before the accident.
The route deviation alarm alerts when a vessel in the traffic control zone departs from the normal route, but A was quoted as saying, "I turned it off because it interfered with control duties."
The Korea Coast Guard explained that the point was that leaving the alarm on would cause it to sound even when small fishing boats deviated from their routes, which would rather hinder duties.
As a result, A did not notice in advance that the Queen Jenuvia II had deviated from its route and took follow-up measures only after receiving a report from the chief mate, it was found.
The Korea Coast Guard also applied charges of Injury by Gross Negligence and violations of the Seafarers Act to B, the captain of the Queen Jenuvia II in his 60s, and sought an arrest warrant.
B directed departure from the wheelhouse and then went to the captain's cabin to rest, and was found not to have gone to the wheelhouse even once until before the accident.
The section where the accident occurred is a narrow channel where the captain must personally command the vessel, but B was found not to have left the captain's cabin and did not perform the role.
The Korea Coast Guard plans to check with the crew what the captain was doing in the captain's cabin and whether there had been negligent duty in the past by leaving the wheelhouse.
The Queen Jenuvia II departed for Mokpo at about 4:45 p.m. on the 19th carrying 267 people, including 246 passengers and 21 crew, and ran aground on Jogdo near Jangsan Island in Sinan County at about 8:16 p.m. the same day. In this accident, 30 passengers complained of pain and were treated at hospitals.