Seoul - Survivors of one of South Korea's worst naval disasters speculated Saturday on what caused their warship to sink Friday night during a briefing session organized by the Navy as rescue work and investigation into the calamity continued, the local Korea Herald newspaper reported.
'The ship was broken into two parts and the rear of the ship abruptly sank. I tried my best to rescue my soldiers,' said the ship's commander, Choi Won Il, who expressed regret that he could not save more. Choi avoided pinpointing the exact cause of the explosion that tore a hole into the rear hull of the ship before the investigation is complete, but said it could have been due to 'internal or external shocks,' the Korea Herald reported.
Another sailor, however, had differing theories. 'There is no possibility whatsoever that the ship sank due to an internal explosion or a collision with a reef. I guarantee that,' said a navy lieutenant, as quoted by those who attended the Navy briefing, the Korea Herald reported.
The session for some 300 relatives of the 46 missing crew was organized by the Navy's Second Fleet Command in the ship's home port of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
Choi reportedly called in news of the explosion with his mobile phone due to power failure just before the ship's demise, according to Lee Gi Sik, chief of the Defence Ministry's intelligence operations, during an emergency session of the National Assembly's defence committee. 'I went up to the deck and couldn't see the stern of the ship there. It all happened within two minutes,' the commander was quoted as saying by Reprepsentative Kim Hak-song.
The navy, coast guard and air force were all enlisted in rescue operations in waters about 1.8 kilometres south-west of South Korea's Baengnyeong Island.
Called the Cheonan, the ship was carrying 104 crew members on patrol. It began taking on water after an explosion around 9 pm (1200 GMT) Friday near the island of Baengnyeong off the west coast of South Korea, the presidential office said. About 46 crew members remain missing as rough seas and inclement weather thwarted rescue efforts for the 1,200-ton South Korean Navy corvette near the maritime border with North Korea in the Yellow Sea, military officials said Saturday. Of the 58 rescued, 13 were injured and hospitalized, with no death count given yet, officials said.
'The investigation hasn't been easy due to strong currents ... The divers only have about 40 minutes in the water at a time,' Defence Minister Kim Tae Young told reporters.
The Northern Limit Line, the western maritime border that North Korea refuses to recognize, was the site of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999, 2002 and 2009. |