Korean ferry captain accused of abandoning ship while hundreds remained on board as it emerges only ONE of 46 lifeboats deployed

Twenty people, including five students and two teachers, have died and 272 are still unaccounted for

Captain Lee Joon-seok said 'I am sorry' when asked whether he had any words for the relatives

The 69-year-old is reportedly facing charges of negligence and has been questioned by police



Prime Minister Chung Hong-won had a water bottle thrown at him in Jindo, south of Seoul, South Korea

Crew member revealed that captain did not order an evacuation until 30 minutes after the boat began to sink



Many of the 470 people on board were high school students who were on a trip at the time



Ferry was sailing to the southern island of Jeju when it sent a distress call around after it began leaning to one side



The government said about 95 per cent of the ship was submerged when the rescue operation began

US President Barack Obama offers military help for rescue operation and expresses condolences to families




The captain of the ferry which sunk off South Korea has been accused of abandoning the ship and could face charges of negligence.



Reports suggest Lee Joon-seok, 69, was one of the first to jump to safety from the stricken vessel while many passengers were told to 'stay put' by rescuers.

It comes as allegations suggest only one of the 46 lifeboats were deployed as the boat began to sink.



Footage showing the white survival capsules still attached to the vessel is believed to have emerged as the coast guard and maritime police frantically try to reach those trapped on board.

The revelations will further enrage family members of the 272 passengers still missing. Relatives have already displayed their frustration towards government officials as the huge search operation entered its second day.

Twenty-four people have died as a result of the horrific incident, but officials fear the number of casualties will rise with hundreds still inside the submerged boat.



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Probe: Lee Joon-Seok, captain of the South Korean ferry (pictured in the grey hooded jumper) is facing a criminal investigation. When asked if he had any words for the relatives of missing passengers, he said: 'I am sorry'

Rage: South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won (left, in glasses) is shielded by his bodyguards from a bottle of water thrown by an angry relative of passengers on the capsized ferry Sewol. Another family member slapped a government official as he delivered an update on the situation

Submerged: As the search operation enters its second day, only a small part of the boat is now visible above the surface as rescuers desperately try to find the missing passengers Effortsl: A South Korean rescue team made up of divers and soldiers prepare to search for passengers. They have been hammering on the outside of the ship in an attempt to communicate with those trapped inside Climb: Members of the team clamber onto the hull and try to squeeze inside in a bid to find those still unaccounted for

The 69-year-old captain (left) could be charged with negligence. He was accused of being one of the first people to jump off the stricken ship when it started listing. As devastated relatives waited for updates of the search operation, it was revealed that those trapped inside the boat tried to contact family members by text message



South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won had to be shielded by his bodyguards when a bottle of water was thrown by an angry relative while another was seen slapping a government official as families plea for answers and urgency in the wake of the tragedy.



When Joon-seok was asked if he had any words for the families of the missing passengers, he said 'I am sorry' from beneath a grey hooded jumper. He is now being questioned by police and is facing a criminal investigation.

He is reportedly facing the possibility of charges of negligence leading to death, as well as claims he was one of the first people to abandon ship.

The Captain also denied reports that the boat hit a rock, even though the boat is claimed to have made a sharp change in direction, causing it to tilt.



Senior coast guard official Kim Soo-hyun confirmed the investigation, he said: 'Today, we began looking into the cause of the submersion and sinking ... focusing on any questions about crew negligence, problems with cargo holding and structural defects of the vessel.

Children still trapped inside the vessel frantically reached for their phones in an attempt to contact their relatives for the last time.

A mother of one of the high-school students said around 20 messages had been sent to parents, according to reports.



Named only as Mrs Jung, she told The Daily Telegraph one message is circulating around the parents - a list of survivors organised by their class number sent from inside the ship.



Kim Joong Yeon, a 44-year-old father, said: 'I think 40 to 50 students may be alive in the cafeteria. My wife spoke to our daughter Siyeon last night at 9.55pm. She is in a fourth floor cabin, and I believe she is still alive.'

Police however confirmed they were investigating possible hoax messages that had been circulating on social media.



In their initial panic, the crew failed to send a distress signal, and told passengers to remain in their cabins for over an hour. As the water rose inside the ship, the victims may have then been unable to open their doors to escape.



It has also emerged that desperate parents of missing schoolchildren have been hiring rescue boats to join the hunt for their loved ones.

According to CNN, footage has emerged showing the lifeboats still attached to the boat while passengers were being rescued.



It follows reports that hundreds of people, including schoolchildren, were told to stay on board the ferry as it began to sink.

An immediate evacuation order was not issued for the ferry, with the captain initially telling passengers to put on life jackets and stay put.

Heartache: A relative weeps as she waits for information regarding the missing passengers Comfort: A man consoles a woman on Jindo Island. Families have been left frustrated while rain and strong currents have hampered the search efforts Waiting: Relatives lie on pillows and blankets in a school gymnasium, anxious to hear updates on the search effort Crowded: Hundreds of family members stayed in the gymnasium over night , awaiting news from the scene of the sinking Family members of the 287 passengers still missing lay supplies on the gym's floor in preparation for a longer stay It was not until 30 minutes later that he told people on board to leave the listing vessel. But by then it was impossible for crew members to move to passengers' room to help them because the ship was tilted at an impossibly acute angle.

Angry shouts could be heard when the South Korean prime minister visited a shelter where relatives of the missing passengers waited for news. Some yelled that the government should have sent more divers to search the wreckage.

Although the water at the site of the accident is relatively shallow at under 50 metres (165 feet), it is still dangerous for the 150 or so divers working flat out, experts said. Time was running out to find any survivors trapped inside, they said.

'The chances of finding people in there (alive) are not zero,' said David Jardine-Smith, secretary of the International Maritime Rescue Federation, adding, however, that conditions were extremely difficult.

'There is a lot of water current and silt in the water which means visibility is very poor and the divers are basically feeling their way around.'

There has been no official explanation for the sinking, although officials denied reports the ship, built in Japan 20 years ago, was sharply off its authorised route.

Many of the relatives of the missing have criticised the rescue operation and have gone to look for themselves after divers suspended searches inside the submerged vessel until it once again gets light. The father of one missing child and 10 other parents paid 61,000 won (£35) each to hire a boat to take them to the scene, along with a local reporter and a diver, reports the International Business Times. 'There was no rescue operation going on,' the man said when he returned to shore. 'We clearly saw there is none. What they were doing at the time was stopping the oil spill. I'm extremely angry. 'The media says the rescue operation is still going on. It's all a lie. It makes me so furious.' Tears: A woman cries as she sits among other relatives of missing passengers Anguish: A woman cannot hide her emotions as she helplessly waits for news of missing loved ones Pointing: A relative shows his frustration has he stands in the middle of a makeshift tent

South Korean rescue team members search for passengers aboard the ferry in the water off the southern coast near Jindo Frantic search: Rescuers scour the wreckage in a search for survivors some 12 miles off the island of Byungpoong in Jindo Relatives of some of the missing passengers look on as the rescue effort takes on. Bad weather hampered the search effort From above: An aerial photo shows how much the boat has been submerged as boats continue to search the surrounding water Attached: A large orange chain has been placed around the keel of the boat, which is barley visible above the surface Joining the search: South Korean President Park Geun-hye looks at the site where the Sewol sank from aboard a Coast Guard ship Covered-up: People waiting on the pier at Jindo Island shelter from the terrible conditions that have beset the search operation

Passenger Koo Bon-hee, 36, said that many people were trapped inside by windows that were too hard to break. He wanted to escape earlier but an announcement said passengers should stay put.



'The rescue wasn't done well. We were wearing life jackets. We had time,' Koo said from a hospital bed in Mokpo where he was treated for minor injuries.



'If people had jumped into the water ... they could have been rescued. But we were told not to go out.'



It is not clear if the captain's actions violated any procedures, and he may have believed at the time that it was still possible to control the vessel, which would have made the order to evacuate unnecessary. Many passengers said they did not even hear the evacuation order.



As night fell on Wednesday, emergency services claimed they had saved 164 people from the boat, which had 470 people on board.



Dozens of fishing vessels, helicopters and divers desperately scrambled to rescue people on the 6,825-ton ferry in what emergency services are calling the country's biggest peacetime disaster in 20 years.

