The captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized three days ago with hundreds of schoolchildren aboard today defended his decision to delay its evacuation.
Police charged Lee Joon-Seok and two of his crew early in the morning. All three have been criticised for leaving behind hundreds of passengers, while abandoning ship themselves.
But Lee insisted he feared the outcome could have been worse if he had given the order to man the lifeboats too early. 'At the time a rescue ship had not arrived,' he said. 'There were also no fishing boats around for rescues, or other ships to help.
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