An overloaded ferry rolled over in a turn. The passengers were told to stay where they were.
On 16 April 2014 the South Korean ferry Sewol, overloaded with cargo and short of ballast, heeled over during a turn, flooded and capsized off the south-west coast of Korea. 304 of the 476 people on board died, most of them high school students who had been told over the loudspeakers to stay in their cabins.
Words in this case
- overloading
- Carrying more cargo than the ship is allowed.
- ballast
- Sea water in tanks that keeps the ship stable; not free space for cargo.
- cargo shift
- Cargo moving to one side when the ship heels.
- point of no return
- The heel beyond which the ship will not come back upright.
- evacuation order
- The instruction to passengers to leave their cabins and go to the muster stations or the boats.
More words like these in the glossary and in listening practice.
What happened
Sewol had been modified after purchase with extra passenger decks, which raised her centre of gravity, and she was allowed to carry less cargo and more ballast to compensate. On the last voyage she carried about twice the permitted cargo, poorly secured, and had pumped out ballast to make room for it.
In the morning, in a strait with strong currents, the ship made a sharp turn. She heeled far over, the cargo shifted and she did not come back. Water entered through openings on the low side and the list grew. Over about two and a half hours she rolled over and sank.
During that time the crew repeatedly announced that passengers should stay where they were, and no general evacuation was ordered while it was still possible. The master and some of the bridge crew left the ship among the first to be rescued. Most of the passengers who obeyed the announcements died inside the ship. The investigations that followed found the overloading, the loss of stability from the modifications and the ballast, the cargo securing and the failure to evacuate as the causes; several crew members were convicted.
Why it happened
- Modifications had reduced the ship's stability; overloading of cargo and reduced ballast reduced it further, below what was safe.
- Cargo was not properly secured and shifted in the turn.
- A sharp turn in a current heeled the ship beyond the point of no return.
- The crew told passengers to stay in place and did not order evacuation while the ship was still upright enough to leave.
What to remember on board
- A modified ship has a new stability book; the cargo and ballast limits in it are the law of the ship, not a suggestion.
- Ballast is not free space for cargo. Pumping it out to load more is a decision to reduce stability.
- A list that grows is an evacuation, and the announcement must say so early, clearly and in words passengers understand.
- The crew leaves last. There is no version of the job where that is different.
What changed afterwards
Korea overhauled its ferry safety regime: ship modifications, cargo weight checks, ballast rules, crew training and emergency communication; the case is taught worldwide on crowd management and the duty to evacuate.
Three questions
The kind of questions a knowledge test asks about this case. Keys 1 to 4 answer, Enter goes on.
Read more
Source: Official investigations of the Republic of Korea into the sinking of the ferry Sewol (Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal and the Special Investigation Commission, 2014 onwards).
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Plain-English summary of an official investigation report. Facts and findings are the investigators'; the wording is ours. Nothing here is legal advice or a substitute for the report itself.