The South Korean ferry ''Seohae'' ( ko, 서해 페리호;

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: ) sank on October 10, 1993 in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour ter ...

near

Wido Guido is a given name Latinisation of names, Latinised from the Old High German name Wido. It originated in Medieval Italy. Guido later became a male first name in Austria, Germany, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, Latin America an ...

Buan County Buan County (''Buan-gun'') is a county in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is bounded by the city of Jeongeup on the east, the county of Gochang on the south, the city of Gimje on the north, and Yellow Sea on the west. Buan is divided into 1 ...

North Jeolla Province North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwes ...

. 292 of the 362 passengers and crew on board were killed. 70 people were rescued. At the time, this accident was the largest ferry disaster in South Korea since December 15, 1970, when 323 people on board were killed in the sinking of the ferry ''Namyoung'' (남영호).

Vessel

''Seohae'' was a ferry of 110

gross tons Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

, with a maximum capacity of 221 passengers.

Accident

At the time of the incident, ''Seohae'' was carrying 362 people (355 passengers and 7 crew), an excess of 141, and the weather condition was harsh with winds of and wave height of . Overloading was a factor in the sinking. Another was a thick rope found wrapped around both propeller shafts. The rope, left behind by fishing operations, may have made the ferry heel over onto her starboard side.

Aftermath

Divers were employed to help recover the bodies of deceased victims after the vessel sunk.

References

1993 in South Korea Maritime incidents in 1993 Ferries of South Korea Maritime incidents in South Korea Shipwrecks in the Yellow Sea October 1993 events {{Korea-hist-stub

Vessel

Accident

Aftermath

See also

References