Sailors on sunken SKorean ship heard deafening blast, then vessel tilted on its side

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Survivors of sunken SKorean ship heard loud blast

SEOUL, South Korea — Sailors who survived the sinking of a South Korean naval ship last month said Wednesday they heard a deafening blast before the vessel tilted 90 degrees and broke apart on a routine patrol near the disputed border with North Korea.

In their first public account, some of the 58 rescued from the Cheonan, told reporters there were no unusual signs before the explosion that split the 1,200-ton vessel in two. The men — dressed in their hospital gowns, some near tears — said there was no smell of gunpowder after the blast, only oil. Their captain wept when he spoke of the 44 sailors still missing.

Divers recovered the body of one crewman Saturday and a second on Wednesday.

No cause for the disaster has been determined. South Korean officials have said they will examine all possibilities, including that the ship might have been hit by a floating mine or a torpedo from North Korea.

Sailors said the blast felt like it came from outside the ship, but did not comment on speculation of possible North Korean involvement. The Cheonan sank in the Yellow Sea near the contested western sea border — a scene of three bloody inter-Korean naval battles since 1999.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Kim Soo-gil said he heard a booming noise, followed by the sound of water sloshing. He followed the trail of moonlight reflecting on the water flooding into the boat to reach the boat’s deck from his bunk inside.

“There’s a tearing noise if a ship hits a rock, and it would have shaken if it was caught in sand,” he told a news conference. “It seemed to have been a shock from the outside rather than those two reasons.”

Senior Chief Petty Officer Oh Seong-tak, who was in his bunk on the vessel’s lowest level at the time of the blast, said he groped around him to feel his way out, and then realized the door was at his feet.

“I heard a loud boom, and felt my body being instantly lifted up in the air. … The vessel tilted at a 90-degree angle immediately after the explosion,” Oh said. “The noise was so loud that my ears hurt.”

Speculation about the cause of the accident, including that it might have been due to an internal explosion or malfunction, has been intense in South Korea. The government, however, has urged calm and said the cause can only be determined after remains of the ship are salvaged and thoroughly examined.

“Instead of saying this or that, we must be patient and wait,” President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday. “I specially asked U.S. President Obama to send the best U.S. military and civilian experts” to help find the cause, Lee said.

All of the sailors who appeared at the news conference, held at a military hospital near Seoul, wore hospital gowns except for the captain, who appeared in uniform. Some wore back braces and some were in wheelchairs or on crutches.

The 44 missing sailors have not been declared dead. However, search operations were called off Saturday at the request of family members after a navy diver died.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeon Joon-young fought back tears as he spoke about the scene on deck while waiting for the rescue team to arrive.

“At first I was in a panic, but I calmed down after the officers told me that everything will be OK,” Jeon said, his lips trembling.

Capt. Choi Won-il, who mostly sat with his eyes closed and lips pursed as his men spoke, said he hopes the missing are still alive and is waiting for the day they can return to duty.

“Please understand the situation as it is,” Choi said, wiping away tears with his sleeve. “My men, who I feel are by my side, are deep in my heart.”

Efforts to recover the ship began earlier this week. Last week, a South Korean fishing boat that participated in search operations disappeared. Two aboard that vessel died and seven others are missing.