The arrests were made after the ferry ran aground on rocks off South Korea’s southeastern coast, according to media reports.
All 267 passengers and crew aboard the Queengenubia 2 were rescued Wednesday after becoming trapped near an uninhabited island off Jangsan Island in Shinan-gun. There were no deaths.
The Coast Guard announced that it is investigating whether the accident occurred due to the negligence of the captain and navigator, but that a full-scale investigation is underway.
The Coast Guard said 27 people suffered minor injuries as a result of the ground impact. The vessel was initially stuck but is now anchored in a nearby port.
Some passengers described the incident in real time through social media.
“There was a loud roar and the ship tilted,” South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
“There was an announcement asking everyone to put on their life jackets, so we’re waiting on the top deck with our life jackets on.”
The 26,000-ton passenger ship departed from the resort island of Jeju and was heading to the port city of Mokpo, officials said.
This area is near the site of the Sewol ferry sinking in 2014, which killed more than 300 people, most of whom were elementary school students on a school trip.
The salvaged wreckage of the Sewol Ferry was lifted to Mokpo almost three years later.
Kim Nam-hyeon, a diving instructor from Jeju Island, told Reuters in an interview, “I thought I might die. The sound was so loud.
“But watching the Sewol ferry, I knew that in situations like this, you have to stay calm, go outside, put on a life jacket and wait.”
