On the night of November 19, a passenger ship sailing off the southwest coast of South Korea unexpectedly collided with an uninhabited island reef. An investigation by the Korean Coast Guard found that the chief mate responsible for navigation was distracted by his mobile phone, and the Indonesian helmsman also failed to notice the deviation from the course. Police arrested the two on suspicion of serious negligence.
The safety center onshore, responsible for monitoring vessel navigation, had no one who noticed the passenger ship’s deviation from its route and will likely also be held accountable.
As the incident location was near the waters of the 2014 “Sewol” ferry tragedy where 304 people died, this case cannot escape associations with collective human error and a lack of safety awareness, evoking nightmares in South Korean society.
According to comprehensive reports from Yonhap News, Reuters, The Hankyoreh, and MBN TV on November 20, the “Queen Jenuvia II,” traveling from Jeju Island to the port city of Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, ran aground after hitting the uninhabited small island “Jok Island” in the waters of Sinan County, Jeollanam-do, around 8 p.m. on November 19. Approximately half of the hull submerged, but fortunately, it did not list or take on water.
All 267 people on board were rescued, including 248 passengers and 21 crew members.
The location of the 2014 “Sewol” ferry tragedy, where 304 lives were lost due to the vessel malfunctioning and sinking, is also located off the coast of Jeollanam-do, but the “Sewol” incident occurred near Jindo, farther from the shore.
It is reported that the collision and grounding did not cause severe damage to the hull, and the vessel still had power.
Data shows that the “Queen Jenuvia II” is a large ferry with a displacement of 26,000 tons and a passenger capacity of up to 1,010, additionally equipped with decks for cargo and vehicle transport. The ship was carrying 118 vehicles. Among the 267 people, only a few sustained minor injuries, and the hull suffered slight damage.
The passenger ship arrived at Mokpo Port under its own power around 5 a.m. on November 20. The hull’s steel plates were deformed and scratched. As the cabins did not flood, passengers were able to return to the ship to retrieve their luggage and drive their vehicles away.
A Korean Coast Guard official stated that at the time of the incident, the chief mate and another Indonesian helmsman were at the helm; both are in their 40s.
The chief mate initially claimed that the steering gear was malfunctioning during the incident but later changed his statement, saying he was browsing news on his phone and missed the turn. It is reported that he should have turned the ship and switched to manual steering in waters 1,600 meters away from Jok Island. However, distracted by his phone, he only realized the failure to turn in time when the ship was less than 100 meters from Jok Island.
The Indonesian helmsman, with 18 years of experience, did not keep a proper visual lookout as required and also failed to detect the situation in time.
As the vessel still had power, the likelihood of the malfunction claim being valid is very low. The Coast Guard preliminarily determined that serious human error was involved.
The captain, in his 60s, was not in the wheelhouse as he was off-duty at the time and is under separate investigation.
Navigating in narrow and high-risk waters requires the captain to be in the wheelhouse at all times by law. Regulations also prohibit the use of autopilot systems in narrow channels. The coordinate data set for the chief mate’s autopilot should also be investigated. This route is not set from the starting point to the destination in one go but is set in multiple segments.
Investigators also found that personnel at the Mokpo Vessel Traffic Service (Mokpo VTS) center, responsible for monitoring ship navigation, likely bear significant responsibility, as they only learned of the incident after the chief mate reported the grounding.
It is reported that before the incident, one traffic controller was directing the movement of five ships in the accident waters, one of which had already deviated from its course and required guidance from the controller. Considering the speed of the “Queen Jenuvia II,” crew members stated that the time from deviation to collision and grounding might have been only 2 to 3 minutes.
However, VTS controllers emphasized that the point where the accident vessel deviated was 700 to 800 meters from Jok Island, a journey of only about one minute. Even if communication had been timely, it would have been too late. Related VTS also had negligence issues during the “Sewol” ferry disaster.
Investigators have seized crew members’ phones, the ferry’s voyage data, and traffic control records from the incident waters for cross-verification. Preliminary investigations show that the weather was good at the time of the incident, the speed of 22 knots (40 km/h) complied with regulations, and the route did not deviate significantly, but the turn was not made in time.
The involved crew members were not under the influence of alcohol. Whether the ship could not turn in time due to the narrow channel remains to be clarified.
The waters of Sinan County have many islands. A Coast Guard official stated that the routes around Jok Island are narrow and require careful navigation; ships should be manually controlled rather than using autopilot. The ferry operator, Seaworld, stated that services would be suspended until relevant investigations and safety checks are completed.
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