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¡ã The MV Sewol at Incheon port - Photo by Wikimedia Commons - jinjoo2713 (Naver User) |
A fresh report into the Sewol ferry disaster has revealed details of how the ship was overloaded with cargo which included construction material for the new Jeju naval base.
In total, 476 people, mostly secondary school students, were on board the ship en route from Incheon to Jeju when it capsized on April 16, 2014. Some 304 lives were lost in the disaster.
As reported by the Korea Times, a report by the Special Investigation Commission of the 4/16 Sewol Ferry Disaster said the ship was loaded with 2,215 tons of cargo, more than double its 987 ton permitted cargo limit.
The commission, which announced the findings on Monday (June 28), said 405 tons of steel bars to be used for building the new Jeju Civilian Military Complex Port at Gangjeong village in Seogwipo was among its cargo. An earlier investigation had reported 286 tons of the cargo was construction material for the new naval base, the Korea Times report said.
The Korea Times report said the finding fitted in "aggravating suspicions that the National Intelligence Service was the actual owner of the passenger ferry and it departed from Incheon despite bad weather to deliver the steel bars to the government-led naval base construction site." |