Lee Joon Seok, the captain of a sunken South Korean ferry, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need, CNN reported.
Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin said Lee was detained early Saturday, along with the two crew members. Lee faces five charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, according to the Yonhap news agency, according to CNN.
Yang said earlier that Lee was not on the bridge when the ferry was passing through an area with many islands clustered closely together, something he said is required by law so the captain can help a mate make a turn, CNN reported. The captain also abandoned people in need of help and rescue, he said.
Two crewmembers on the bridge of the ferry, including a 25-year-old woman and a 55-year-old helmsman, also failed to reduce speed near the islands and conducted a sharp turn, Yang added, according to CNN.
As investigators looked into whether his evacuation order came too late to save lives, two crew members were also arrested, a prosecutor said, according to CNN. The disaster three days ago left more than 270 people missing and at least 29 people dead.
As the last bit of the sunken ferry's hull slipped Friday beneath the murky water off southern South Korea, there was a new victim: a vice principal of the high school whose students were among the passengers was found hanged, an apparent suicide, CNN reported.
The Sewol had left the northwestern port of Incheon on Tuesday on an overnight journey to the holiday island of Jeju in the south with 476 people aboard, including 323 students from Danwon High School in Ansan, according to CNN. It capsized within hours of the crew making a distress call to the shore a little before 9 a.m. Wednesday.
By Friday night the entire boat was underwater and rescuers set two giant beige buoys to mark the area, CNN reported. Navy divers attached underwater air bags to the 6,852-ton ferry to prevent it from sinking deeper, the Defense Ministry added.
Investigators said the accident came at a point where the ship had to make a turn, and prosecutor Park Jae-eok said investigators were looking at whether the third mate ordered a turn that was so sharp that it caused the vessel to list, according to CNN.
