Officials: Found bones not from ferry victims
With 9 victims still missing, some hoped to ID family.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — The first government announcement Tuesday was startling: Salvage crews had found bones near the wreckage of the Sewol ferry, which sank in 2014 and killed 304 people.
The discovery raised hopes that the remains were of some of the nine people still missing. Such a find would bring a measure of closure in one of South Korea’s deadliest maritime disasters.
But hours later, investigators from the National Forensic Service concluded that it was all a mistake. The bones were from unidentified animals, not human remains.
There was no immediate explanation from the government, which has been widely criticized over its handling of the disaster.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries had initially said salvage crews had found bones measuring 1.5 to 7 inches) that were likely to be from one or more of the missing passengers, and that DNA tests would be used to verify the identities.
The discovery triggered an angry reaction from relatives of the missing, who criticized the government’s salvage operation as poorly organized and questioned whether other remains might have gotten lost while workers raised the sunken ferry last week. The ministry also said shoes and other items believed to be from the missing victims were found.
The bones were found near a beam beneath the front side of the 6,800-ton Sewol, which had been lifted from the sea and loaded onto a heavy lift transport vessel that will carry it to port.
Re s c u e wo r k e r s h a v e recovered the bodies of 295 people — most of them students on a high school trip — before the government ended underwater searches in November 2014, seven months after the ship sank. The nine who are still missing include four students and two teachers from the school.
Earlier Tuesday, relatives of the missing passengers participated in an emotional memorial service on a boat near the transport vessel, with representatives of Catholic and Protestant churches and Buddhists delivering prayers for the recovery of the missing.
R e l a t i v e s t o s s e d y e l - low roses into the sea and watched from afar as crews on the transport vessel emptied the ferry of water and fuel.
“The ship has come up, but not the nine people inside it,” Lee Geum-hee, the mother of a missing girl, told a TV crew. “Please don’t forget there are people inside the dirty, rusty and smelly wreckage. ... Please do the best and let us bring them back home.” the opioid epidemic is having on our state. As chief judge of the 15th Judic ial Circuit, I have witnessed how this escalating problem has particularly impacted Palm Beach County,” Colbath wrote.
“I request that you declare a public health emergency to marshal resources, implement new strategies and raise awareness so we can all more effectively combat this epidemic.”
T h e a r e a’s d r u g t r e a t - ment industry draws addicts from throughout the country, many of whom relapse and overdose in Palm Beach County. Stories in The Palm Beach Post have drawn attention to the problem, and a recent law enforcement crackdown on industry practices and questionable operators has netted more than two dozen arrests.
Colbath, first elected to the bench in 1992, said “judges in the trenches” have seen an uptick in cases from the opioid epidemic. The victims and defendants come from all demographics, he said.
“It’s not just the poor or the easily ignored disenfranchised member of our community. It’s everybody,” he said.
Colbath said he hasn’t received a reply from Scott, and he’s not sure if he ever will. But he hopes his letter might catch the attention of someone in Scott’s administration and perhaps result in more money and resources to local communities.
“I do appreciate that it’s not the norm that a chief judge would write such a letter. But it’s an appropriate exercise of this office to call upon the governor to help out, to put this higher up on the priority list. It’s just the right thing do to,” Colbath told The Post.
Colbath’s letter mentioned the 551 deaths from overdoses of all types tallied by the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office for the first 11 months of 2016.
“The statistics for 2016 are grim,” he wrote. “The death toll, once December’s numbers are in, (is) expected to approach or even exceed 600 deaths.’’
Colbath’s letter also mentioned the costs to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue: at least $1,500 to respond to each overdose call. “The emotional toll to them, furthermore, is incalculable,” he said.
“Our county and municipalities are bearing the brunt of these costs. Businesses are being harmed; families are being devastated. ... We are doing what we can at the local level, but our resources are limited.”
Although Colbath’s letter cited local statistics, he said the epidemic has spread beyond Palm Beach County:
“This is a statewide problem that requires a statewide response,” he wrote.
Circuit Judge Krista Marx, who in recent years has presided over drug court and this summer will take over as chief judge, praised Colbath’s decision to write to Scott.
“That just speaks to the level this has reached,” Marx said, of the opioid crisis.
“Anybody who sits on the criminal bench will tell you our drug cases, and, of late, the heroin c ases, are the engine that runs our criminal justice system, even if (defendants) are not specifically charged with a drug crime it’s so inextricably intertwined with other crimes.”
Florida Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, and the Florida Senate Democratic Caucus also have sent letters urging Scott to declare the heroin crisis a public health emergency.
Colbath agreed to t alk about the letter after The Post obtained a copy and published a blog about it Tuesday. He said he had received messages of thanks from criminal justice employees after news of his letter appeared in The Insider blog.
“I d i d n’ t d o s o me b i g press release about the letter. Maybe I should be a little more public about it,” he said.