First mate, three helmsmen booked for gross negligence after ferry runs aground off South Jeolla

The Mokpo Coast Guard booked the first mate of the Queen Jenuvia II ferry and three Indonesian helmsmen on charges of gross negligence resulting in injury, after the vessel ran aground off an uninhabited island near Jangsan Island, South Jeolla.

The Mokpo Coast Guard conducts a rescue operation after the Queen Jenuvia II ran aground near Jokdo, Jangsan-myeon, Shinan County, South Jeolla, at around 8:17 p.m. on Nov. 19. [MOKPO COAST GUARD]

The Mokpo Coast Guard booked the first mate of the Queen Jenuvia II ferry and three Indonesian helmsmen on charges of gross negligence resulting in injury, after the vessel ran aground Wednesday night off an uninhabited island near Jangsan Island, Shinan County, South Jeolla.

Two of the four — the first mate and an Indonesian helmsman — were taken into emergency custody on suspicion of attempting to destroy evidence or flee on Thursday.

The first mate is accused of handing over control to the ship’s autopilot while distracted by reading news on a mobile phone, despite navigating through a narrow channel where manual operation is required. As a result, the ship missed the critical timing for a course change, veered sharply off the main route, and ran aground on Jokdo, an uninhabited island off Jangsan Island. Roughly half the hull ended up lodged on the shore.

The vessel was approximately 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles) off course from the main Jeju–Mokpo sea route at the time of the accident. Investigators also found that A failed to reduce speed in accordance with operating guidelines for narrow waterways.

“The ship was in a zone where automatic steering is not permitted. We asked why the system wasn’t switched to manual control,” a Coast Guard official said during a briefing. “The first mate admitted to reading news on Naver,” the official added.

The first mate initially claimed the course change had been delayed because the rudder was not responding, but later changed his statement. Authorities said they have secured the first mate's mobile phone and plan to conduct a forensic investigation to determine what they were doing at the time of the grounding and how long they had been using the device.

The Queen Jenuvia 2, a 26,546-ton car ferry, departed Jeju at around 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday with 246 passengers and 21 crew on board. It was en route to Mokpo when it collided with the island and ran aground.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY SHIN HYE-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]