South Korea’s coast guard began an investigation on Thursday (Nov 20) into a ferry that ran aground overnight, detaining the first officer and an Indonesian crew member on suspicion of gross negligence, officials said. According to the coast guard, the two crew members were steering the vessel and are believed to have delayed overriding the autopilot, causing the ship to collide with an uninhabited island in a busy route leading to the southwestern port of Mokpo. The 26,546-ton ferry, which can carry up to 1,010 passengers and has multiple decks for vehicles and cargo, ran aground while travelling from Jeju Island to Mokpo. Despite the impact, the ship stayed upright and all 267 people aboard were safely rescued.

The incident has stirred painful memories of the 2014 Sewol ferry tragedy, which claimed more than 300 lives — many of them schoolchildren — in roughly the same region, though farther offshore. At a briefing, Kim Hwang-gyun, a coast guard investigator in Mokpo, said the two detained crew members had given inconsistent statements. The first officer initially claimed he had been watching news on his phone at the time of the accident.

Kim said investigators would conduct forensic checks of the crew’s phones, analyze the ferry’s navigation records, and review vessel traffic control data. Seaworld, the company operating the ferry, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment at its Mokpo office. A few people received medical care, though no one was in life-threatening condition, and the ferry sustained only minor hull damage, coast guard officials reported.

The vessel had not strayed from its route and was traveling at 22 knots (40 km/h), within speed limits, when it failed to make a turn, Kim said. Authorities are investigating whether the ship was unable to turn quickly enough in the narrow channels of the area. Another coast guard official noted that ships in the region — a tight coastal passage surrounded by small islands — are normally steered manually rather than left on autopilot.

“Because this is a confined coastal route, it requires precise navigation,” Choi Jae-gon said earlier. Officials added that neither crew member was under the influence of alcohol. The damaged ferry was later towed to Mokpo port, showing crumpled steel and scratches along its hull in images released by the coast guard.