5 years after ferry disaster, Sewol tents at Gwanghwamun come down.
photo from Korea Times
The whole thing was such a fucking shit show. complete incompetence of the crew.
I still get so angry about this, reading the wikipedia article. And then the complete cluster fuck of government response.
What's more, the Sewol ferry is a metaphor for human civilization. As climate change sends our world into chaos, our 'leaders', sociopaths and absolute KNOBS, will continue their mantra of suicide: "stay put. don't worry."
8:50 - ferry starts sinking
8:55 - distress signal to Jeju coast guard. Jeju sends ship right away.
minutes later, call Seoul. Stay on phone for 35 minutes
9:06 - call Jindo coast guard. Stay on phone
9:14 - crew says evacuation is impossible because ship's angle
9:23 - VTS orders crew to get all passengers to wear floatation devices. Crew replies that "we can't because our broadcasting system doesn't work."
VTS: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Go do it in person you idiots.
9:25 VTS tells the captain to make a fucking decision of whether to evacuate the ship because he wanted THEM TO DECIDE FOR HIM.
Throughout all of this, the captain repeated: "Do not move. Just stay where you are. It's dangerous if you move, so just stay where you are."
9:30 - forty minutes after the ship began to sink, the captain broadcasts the call to evacuate the ship (which likely nobody heard) than left.
9:38 - contact cut off with the ship
1:03pm - ship fully submerged in water.
Wikipedia: "The captain, the chief engineer, and the chief and second mates were the first people to be rescued.[111] The captain was rescued around 9:46 a.m.[112][113]"