Investigation ongoing into ferry grounding as crew members face gross negligence charges
Published: 21 Nov. 2025, 21:00
![Coast Guard and National Forensic Service officials conduct a forensic examination on the ferry Queen Jenuvia II near Mokpo, South Jeolla on Nov. 20. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/21/00a0ab68-7086-43de-9a32-d6d7c1a828de.jpg)
Coast Guard and National Forensic Service officials conduct a forensic examination on the ferry Queen Jenuvia II near Mokpo, South Jeolla on Nov. 20. [YONHAP]
MOKPO, South Jeolla — The Mokpo Coast Guard applied for arrest warrants for the first mate and helmsman of the ferry Queen Jenuvia II, which ran aground off the coast of Shinan County, South Jeolla on Wednesday.
The first mate reportedly realized the vessel had veered off course only 13 seconds before it collided with a rocky islet — because he was looking at his mobile phone at the time.
The Coast Guard said Friday it had requested arrest warrants for the first mate and the helmsman, an Indonesian national, on charges of gross negligence resulting in injury.
The two are accused of failing to perform a necessary course change at around 8:16 p.m. on Wednesday, leading the ferry to crash into Jokdo, an uninhabited islet near Jangsan-myeon in Shinan County.
Investigators found that the first mate missed the course correction point because he was preoccupied with his phone, which led the vessel to veer off its intended route.
According to an analysis of the vessel’s voyage data recorder, or VDR, the first mate gave the helmsman steering instructions only 13 seconds before the ship ran aground.
The Coast Guard suspects the first mate was relying on autopilot in a narrow waterway where manual navigation was required, and that he failed to manually switch navigation modes because he was distracted.
![The Mokpo Coast Guard conducts a rescue operation after the Queen Jenuvia 2 ran aground near Jokdo, Jangsan-myeon, Shinan County, South Jeolla, at around 8:17 p.m. on Nov. 19. [MOKPO COAST GUARD]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/21/ab31edbb-825e-43e8-95e1-707af9ddf586.jpg)
The Mokpo Coast Guard conducts a rescue operation after the Queen Jenuvia 2 ran aground near Jokdo, Jangsan-myeon, Shinan County, South Jeolla, at around 8:17 p.m. on Nov. 19. [MOKPO COAST GUARD]
Initially, the first mate claimed there had been a mechanical issue with the ship’s steering, but he later admitted that he had been reading the news on his phone at the time of the accident.
“I was standing in front of the radar in the wheelhouse, but I was searching news articles on my phone and did not switch the navigation system to manual,” the first mate told investigators.
The Indonesian helmsman is reportedly denying any fault. He is accused of failing in his duties to operate the ship’s rudder under the first mate’s instructions or to switch navigation modes, which contributed to the accident.
“Monitoring the ship’s forward direction is the first mate’s job,” the helmsman told investigators. “When I received the command to alter course, the islet was already directly in front of us.”
“Right before the accident, I was standing in front of the gyrocompass,” the helmsman also said, suggesting he was at his assigned post in the wheelhouse.
![Passengers aboard the ferry Queen Jenuvia II are being led off the deck by officials from the Mokpo Coast Guard after the ferry ran aground on Nov. 19. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/21/93823565-057e-4a3c-a2ec-67f08e338911.jpg)
Passengers aboard the ferry Queen Jenuvia II are being led off the deck by officials from the Mokpo Coast Guard after the ferry ran aground on Nov. 19. [YONHAP]
The Coast Guard is continuing its investigation into why the helmsman failed to recognize the course deviation, even though he was near the ship’s primary directional instrument.
Investigators are also looking into the captain of the ferry for possible violations of the Seafarers Act. The law requires captains to be present in the wheelhouse when entering or leaving port, navigating narrow waterways, or passing through areas where collisions or groundings are common.
However, the captain was reportedly off-duty at the time and not present in the wheelhouse. He was resting in the captain’s quarters adjacent to the wheelhouse and only responded after the accident occurred.
The Coast Guard is probing why the captain left the wheelhouse despite the ship entering a narrow channel, and is also interviewing seven crew members as witnesses to review shift protocols.
Investigators are also reviewing whether Mokpo's Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) failed in its duty to monitor and respond. The ferry reportedly deviated from the designated course by about 1.6 kilometers (0.9 miles) and ran aground within a few minutes, prompting criticism that the VTS failed to act in time.
![Coast Guard and National Forensic Service officials conduct a forensic examination on the ferry Queen Jenuvia II near Mokpo, South Jeolla on Nov. 20. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/21/39d2a7b5-b152-478c-9a08-066de5695a24.jpg)
Coast Guard and National Forensic Service officials conduct a forensic examination on the ferry Queen Jenuvia II near Mokpo, South Jeolla on Nov. 20. [YONHAP]
The Coast Guard believes it took two to three minutes from the moment the ferry left its course until the moment it ran aground, fueling suspicions that the accident could have been prevented if the VTS had intervened immediately.
The West Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, which oversees the Mokpo VTS, countered that “the point of course change was only about one minute away from the accident site, not three minutes.”
Given the ferry’s speed of 22 knots — approximately 41 kilometers per hour — they said there was virtually no time for effective communication before impact.
The Queen Jenuvia II, a 26,546-ton ferry, was en route to Mokpo from Jeju Island on Wednesday with 246 passengers and 21 crew members aboard when it ran aground off the coast of Shinan.
All passengers and crew were safely rescued by the Coast Guard. Thirty passengers who reported minor pain and headaches received hospital treatment and were later discharged.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHOI KYEONG-HO,HWANG HEE-GYU [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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