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South Korean President Park Geun-hye has met with the relatives of passengers still missing after last month’s ferry disaster. The death toll has reached 244, with divers still searching for another 58 victims.
Park reiterated a pledge to hold anyone found culpable for the disaster to account as she visited the victims’ families for the second time.
“Anyone responsible for the accident and criminally at fault will be sternly punished,” Park told the relatives, who are camped in Jindo, where search operations are centered.
“I feel a sense of unlimited responsibility… It is heart-rending to imagine how you are feeling,” she added.
The ferry sank on April 16 with 476 passengers on board. Most of them were students and teachers on a school trip.
Eight more bodies were recovered from the wreckage on Saturday bringing the confirmed death toll to 244. Just 176 people escaped the vessel alive, making it one of South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters.
Park’s visit came less than a week after she apologized for her government’s response to the disaster. Allegations of lax safety standards and possible corruption among state regulators have prompted intense criticism.
The president said her government was committed to combating systemic and regulatory “evils” that may have contributed to the accident.
Public anger has also been directed at the ship’s captain and 14 members of his crew, who were among the first to leave the sinking ship.
The captain and several crew members are currently being held on charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.
ccp/jm (AFP, AP)
DW.DE
http://www.dw.de/south-korean-president-visits-ferry-victims-families/a-17611469
