The police could have saved all the passengers on the Sewol ferry

A rescue helicopter flew over the Sewol ferry when it began to sink on April 16.

The above information was announced by the Digital Legal Center (DFC) of the Supreme Procuracy of Korea on May 11, South Korea’s Segye newspaper reported.

Accordingly, the Coast Guard helicopter B511 arrived at the scene at 9:30 a.m. on April 16, when the ferry had not tilted more than 45 degrees.

Insight also said the coast guard could have entered compartments that had not sunk, such as the engine room, to use loudspeakers to tell passengers to jump off the ferry, but they did not.

`At that time, there was a loudspeaker on the ferry announcing ‘passengers please stand still,’` the text of a message from a student on the ferry wrote.

The investigation agency hypothesizes that if the coast guard had penetrated the ferry right when it tilted 45 degrees, it could have saved the lives of all passengers.

At 9:45 a.m., the ferry tilted 62 degrees.

`With this tilt, the coast guard could still hold on to something fixed on the ferry to move but they did not attempt to do anything,` the investigator said.

From left is the tilt of the Sewol ferry at 9:30 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 10:17 a.m. on April 16.

While the coast guard gave up entering the ferry and only rescued the crew members, passengers inside the ferry were urgently calling and texting calling for rescue.

`Maybe this student was standing against a wall on the 4th floor and sending a text message, when the water flooded all the floors below. Until 10:17 a.m., he was still able to text, proving that he was capable at this time.

Thus, after arriving at the scene, the coast guard had at least 47 minutes to rescue passengers, but they did not actively carry out rescue work.

The investigation agency said that based on these analysis results, they will continue to clarify violations.

The Sewol ferry, carrying 476 people, crashed on the morning of April 16 off the southwestern coast of Korea.