I live halfway around the world from this so I think I can likely be more pragmatic about it because it wasn't my children or my country that this happened to so hopefully this is helpful in the long run.
First of all, this ferry was an accident waiting to happen.
It wasn't if this could happen it was only when.
The steering wasn't working properly
The ship had been unwisely expanded to take 100 more passengers even though this made it
unstable.
So, when the steering malfunctioned and the cargo weight shifted what happened was inevitable.
It likely happened too quickly for people to be rescued.
Next, the lifeboats couldn't be accessed because there were problems accessing the lifeboats. A sister ship was tested and the lifeboats couldn't be opened on that one either.
When the ship started to capsize the intercom went out so even if the crew had wanted to tell people to go to lifeboat stations, they couldn't have because the electricity to run the intercom wasn't there.
Once again this was a FUBAR situation. There was never a possible good outcome once the steering failed, the cargo weight shifted and the ship started to tilt.
Next, the water was cold and the students (likely 90% to 100%) of them did NOT know how to swim.
So, even if the lifeboats could have been accessed the children would have been terrified of falling into such cold water when they couldn't swim. And likely many who went to the railings anyway and jumped off with life vests were swept away in the very cold and fast currents there and swept out to sea never to be seen again.
So, it is possible that up to 1/3 of the children on the boat were washed out to sea either while the ship was turning over or being washed out of the ship after they drowned inside or on deck.
What have we learned from this?
The crew were victims too of the company that didn't maintain their ship.
They likely knew, (at least the captain and first mates) that this was an unsafe ship. However, if they wanted a job they had to keep their mouths shut or else they wouldn't be working.
So, blaming the crew isn't the best idea because they likely knew the lifeboats, the ship, the rudder and everything else wasn't working right. In the U.S. it would be much less likely something like this could happen because of the way our culture works. However, in Korea their respectful culture was working against them in this situation.
Though it is nice to be polite in this situation the type of politeness just killed all these children.
It hid the truth from the public until it was too late to save these kids.
How many other types of problems exist in South Korean society like this?
This needs to be the question South Koreans need to ask themselves more than any other.
One of the positive results of this is children likely will start to be taught to swim across South Korea.
Since South Korea is an ocean nation the children likely need to know how to swim. IF another ferry capsizes at least the children might be able to swim for 50 minutes and survive it if they have life vests on.
Second, all life rafts on all South Korean ships need to be inspected to see if they are accessible, working and in good order, not just this ferry companies life boats.
For South Korea this is a little like 9-11 was for the U.S. Everything likely will change now. So, unless positive things happen to change the way kids can swim and lifeboats are accessible and working and ships aren't modified beyond their capacity for safety and loads are better tied down in rough seas and rudders are made sure to work before ships are allowed to operate then all these children died in vain.
In honor of all these children and in memory of them all these things must change.
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