The record of communication between the Sewol-ho ferry and the regional vessel controlling towers has been released, and an investigation is underway to find out what happened before the ship sank.
But testimonies vary, and it's too early to tell which information is credible and which is not. That said, a new phone call is in the spotlight that may shed new light on the situation.
For that and more, we now go to Arirang News' Song Ji-sun at the news center.
Ji-sun, tell us more about the phone call in question.
Conn-young, the more information we get, the more doubt is thrown on the events leading up to the Sewol-ho ferry's capsizing.
Also coming into question is who called in first and to where -- in terms of the regional control tower for all vessels, called the vessel traffic service, or VTS.
Sewol-ho ferry was in waters surrounding the Jindo area at the last hour before it sank but a teacher at Ansan's Danwon High School said they received a phone call from the Jeju Coast Guard at 8:10 a.m. that morning.
The teacher says they were asked to provide the cell phone number of a teacher that was on board the ferry.
The Jeju Coast Guard is denying the fact the call came from them but this falls in line with testimony given by crew members, who say their channel was set to Jeju VTS instead of the channel they were supposed to be on, the one with Jindo VTS.
A crew member confessed that it was set that way because their destination was Jeju.
Jindo VTS eventually made contact with the Sewol-ho ferry to confirm its status at 9:06 -- 11 minutes after the ferry called in to Jeju VTS.
This was 11 minutes of wasted time, time that could have been spent evacuating passengers.
The information provided is puzzling, to say the least. How is the investigation into the tragedy progressing?
We have new information that puts what the captain of the Sewol-ho has reportedly told authorities into doubt.
Did the crew tell passengers to evacuate from the sinking ship?
That's still being questioned but chances are they did not now this, according to analysis by a phonetics professor at Chungbuk Provincial University.
On Saturday, the captain told reporters that he DID tell passengers to leave the ship, but experts say his tone was relatively weak at the moment he said those words -- suggesting he was unsure about the integrity of what he was saying.
In the meantime, the first mate did say that he did hear an order from the captain telling passengers to evacuate, but it's not known whether that order was actually announced throughout the ship.
We have a ways to go before finding out the truth.
What's the latest in the investigation into the ferry's operator?
The joint investigation team earlier in the day received arrest warrants for four additional crew members.
This comes after three crew members including the captain were arrested over the weekend. The investigation team has also imposed travel bans on employees of the ferry operator, Cheong Haejin Marine, including its president, the former chairmen of its parent firm, and his two sons who are the biggest shareholders of the company.
In the meantime, one of the engineers of the ferry that was questioned by investigators attempted to hang himself. His colleagues found him just before he could go through with it and he's in stable condition now.
But testimonies vary, and it's too early to tell which information is credible and which is not. That said, a new phone call is in the spotlight that may shed new light on the situation.
For that and more, we now go to Arirang News' Song Ji-sun at the news center.
Ji-sun, tell us more about the phone call in question.
Conn-young, the more information we get, the more doubt is thrown on the events leading up to the Sewol-ho ferry's capsizing.
Also coming into question is who called in first and to where -- in terms of the regional control tower for all vessels, called the vessel traffic service, or VTS.
Sewol-ho ferry was in waters surrounding the Jindo area at the last hour before it sank but a teacher at Ansan's Danwon High School said they received a phone call from the Jeju Coast Guard at 8:10 a.m. that morning.
The teacher says they were asked to provide the cell phone number of a teacher that was on board the ferry.
The Jeju Coast Guard is denying the fact the call came from them but this falls in line with testimony given by crew members, who say their channel was set to Jeju VTS instead of the channel they were supposed to be on, the one with Jindo VTS.
A crew member confessed that it was set that way because their destination was Jeju.
Jindo VTS eventually made contact with the Sewol-ho ferry to confirm its status at 9:06 -- 11 minutes after the ferry called in to Jeju VTS.
This was 11 minutes of wasted time, time that could have been spent evacuating passengers.
The information provided is puzzling, to say the least. How is the investigation into the tragedy progressing?
We have new information that puts what the captain of the Sewol-ho has reportedly told authorities into doubt.
Did the crew tell passengers to evacuate from the sinking ship?
That's still being questioned but chances are they did not now this, according to analysis by a phonetics professor at Chungbuk Provincial University.
On Saturday, the captain told reporters that he DID tell passengers to leave the ship, but experts say his tone was relatively weak at the moment he said those words -- suggesting he was unsure about the integrity of what he was saying.
In the meantime, the first mate did say that he did hear an order from the captain telling passengers to evacuate, but it's not known whether that order was actually announced throughout the ship.
We have a ways to go before finding out the truth.
What's the latest in the investigation into the ferry's operator?
The joint investigation team earlier in the day received arrest warrants for four additional crew members.
This comes after three crew members including the captain were arrested over the weekend. The investigation team has also imposed travel bans on employees of the ferry operator, Cheong Haejin Marine, including its president, the former chairmen of its parent firm, and his two sons who are the biggest shareholders of the company.
In the meantime, one of the engineers of the ferry that was questioned by investigators attempted to hang himself. His colleagues found him just before he could go through with it and he's in stable condition now.