Sewol
Even though weeks have passed since the tragic sinking of the South Korean ferry Sewol which resulted in the deaths of over 300 high school students, the navy, maritime police and fire department continue their search for bodies of victims. However it is reported that a helicopter dispatched by the Korean fire department crashed in the middle of the city of Gwangju after a search operation.
The incident took place at 10:54 am on the 17th (Korean time) of July. The helicopter from the Kangwon Province Fire Department had crash landed on the street right outside an apartment complex in the Gwangsan-gu area of the city of Gwangju. As a result all 5 crewmen were killed and a passing high school student was reported to have been wounded by the shrapnel from the aircraft.
An eyewitness told reporters that the aircraft fell almost vertically towards the street before it crashed. Police are currently still trying to find out the direct cause of the incident, but a fire department insider explained that the crew may have lost control of the helicopter due to very poor weather conditions.
Other eyewitnesses expressed that the captain had made efforts to find the “safest” site as possible for the helicopter to drop. Another witness explained to reporters that only 10 meters away from the crash site is a school, an apartment complex and a group of houses. If the aircraft had altered the course even slightly, the results would have been catastrophic with the deaths of so many other civilians. The same eyewitness expressed the belief that the captain had decided to minimize the damage from the crash than to save his own life.
Dong-jin Oh, the head of the Jeon-nam Fire Department explained that all pilots are trained to avoid civilian areas in the case of a crash.
The police will continue to investigate the incident until the exact cause of the crash is found. Meanwhile, the many families of the deceased students of the Sewol have still not been able to see the return of their children’s bodies and even now are waiting at the port.
