Khaberni - The South Korean Coast Guard rescued passengers and crew members of a ferry after it ran aground on an uninhabited island off the southwestern coast of the country.
The Coast Guard said the ferry, which sailed yesterday Wednesday from Jeju Island in the south to the coastal city of Mokpo, ran aground around 8 PM. No serious injuries were recorded, and 246 passengers and 21 crew members were transferred to a nearby port on rescue boats, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.
Among the passengers, 27 people were taken to the hospital due to minor injuries, including headaches and back pain.
A Coast Guard official, who requested anonymity, said "An initial investigation found that the element responsible for steering was looking at his mobile phone and had engaged the autopilot in an area where it was supposed to navigate the ferry manually."
As a result, the ferry could not change course in time, veered towards the uninhabited island, and ran aground."
He pointed out that the Coast Guard plans to press criminal charges against this individual, as what happened was "clear negligence."
A photo published by Yonhap News Agency shows the ferry's bow crashed into the tree-filled beach of the island. Another photo shows passengers waiting for rescue, many wearing life jackets.
In 2014, a ferry carrying more than 470 passengers, mostly students on a school trip, sank off the southwestern coast of the country, killing 304 people in South Korea's worst maritime disaster.
