The South Korean navy is continuing a rescue mission to save 46 missing crew members of a ship that sank on Friday after a mysterious explosion occured onboard.
Bad weather has so far hampered the search for the missing sailors, and rescue workers say that it is unlikely that anyone could have survived for so long in the icy-cold waters.
Officials are unclear as to what caused the explosion, which caused the 1,200-ton Cheonan to split in two.
Divers have been prevented from reaching the hull of the vessel by fierce waves and poor underwater visibility.
Experts suggest that the explosion was either caused by an accident onboard or the vessel hitting rocks of a sea mine. There is also the possibility that the vessel was attacked by North Korean forces.
The ship sank near the disputed maritime border between the two countries in the Yellow Sea near the island of Baengnyeong.
The two sides engaged in naval clashes in 1999 and 2002 at the border. Last November, there were skirmishes between North and South patrol vessels after a North Korean boat crossed the sea border.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told the country’s Parliament that there would be an investigation into the possibility that the ship sank after an attack, but stressed that it was too early to make the connection.
One senior official told the Yonhap news agency that it was unlikely that the explosion was the result of an attack.
“It is hard to say for sure now, but chances appear to be slim that North Korea was related,” the official, who was not named, was quoted as saying. “If North Korea’s attack really caused the sinking, it means there is a serious loophole in our defense system.”
Spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Phillip Crowley said that it was important not to rush to any conclusion over the possibility of involvement by the North.
“I’m not aware of any evidence to that effect, but I think the authoritative source here would be the South Korean government.”
Some 58 sailors were rescued soon after the ship sank on Friday between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time, but little has been found of the missing 46 crew members.
Most of them were believed to have been trapped inside the ship as it went down.
“Many sailors were hanging onto the bow of the sinking ship,” Kim Jin-ho, a crewman on a civilian ferry to Baengnyeong, a South Korean border island, told YTN television, describing the rescue scene. “They were shouting for help. They were falling into water.”
A group of 80 relatives of missing sailors were carried onboard a military ship to the scene of the disaster on Sunday night to watch the rescue effort.
There are accusations of a coverup among relatives, who say the ship was in urgent need of a repair.
The ship’s rescued captain recounted to Yonhap what had happened following the explosion.
“There was the sound of an explosion and the ship keeled to the right. We lost power and telecommunications,” Yonhap quoted Choi Won-il as saying.
“I was trapped in the cabin for five minutes before my colleagues broke the window in and let me out. When I got out, the stern had disappeared.”
The country’s President Lee Myung-bak has stressed that he wishes the rescue effort to be the main focus for the short term.
The disaster has become one of South Korea’s biggest in recent years.
