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 term ...
near
Wido,
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 ...
,
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 southwest ...
. 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.
See also
* List of South Korean ferry disasters
This is a list of disasters involving ferries of South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zo ...
* Sinking of MV ''Sewol''
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
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