--- title: South Korean Ferry Disaster Mirrors Earlier Japanese Boat Capsizing description: The South Korean disaster was strangely similar to a 2009 Japanese boat's sinking canonical: https://time.com/78269/south-korea-ferry-japanese-capsizing/ author: Harry Swartout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-27T14:43:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:31:15.985Z article:section: World og:title: Watch: The Incident that Could have Saved the Korean Ferry og:description: An accident 5 years earlier could have prevented the tragedy. og:url: https://time.com/78269/south-korea-ferry-japanese-capsizing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fdbd50fb59d4751/69868cb71eebf7dcdd3709e9/tout12802.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Learning from the Past og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: The Incident that Could have Saved the Korean Ferry twitter:description: An accident 5 years earlier could have prevented the tragedy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fdbd50fb59d4751/69868cb71eebf7dcdd3709e9/tout12802.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # South Korean Ferry Disaster Mirrors Earlier Japanese Boat Capsizing by [Harry Swartout](/author/harry-swartout/) ## Harry Swartout Apr 27, 2014 2:43 PM CUT  An accident 5 years previous could have prevented the Korean ferry capsizing. An accident 5 years previous could have prevented the Korean ferry capsizing. by [Harry Swartout](/author/harry-swartout/) ## Harry Swartout Apr 27, 2014 2:43 PM CUT In 2009, the _Ariake_, a Japanese ferry on its way to Okinawa through rough currents, capsized and slowly sank. Five years later, the Korean ferry _Sewol_ capsized and sank in rough currents as well, only this time the ship trapped hundreds of high school students on its way down. The incidents are not merely similar, they’re nearly identical: The two ships were made by the same builder, run by the same operator and capsized at roughly the same time into their journey. Since the _Ariake’s_ accident, Japan has taken steps to make ships safer, precautions that might have prevented the _Sewol_ tragedy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/78269/south-korea-ferry-japanese-capsizing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/78269/south-korea-ferry-japanese-capsizing/"},"headline":"South Korean Ferry Disaster Mirrors Earlier Japanese Boat Capsizing","datePublished":"2014-04-27T14:43:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:31:15.985Z","description":"The South Korean disaster was strangely similar to a 2009 Japanese boat's sinking","url":"https://time.com/78269/south-korea-ferry-japanese-capsizing/","keywords":["Japan","Accident","Korea","Disaster","ferry","Sewol"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fdbd50fb59d4751/69868cb71eebf7dcdd3709e9/tout12802.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Harry Swartout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/harry-swartout/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fdbd50fb59d4751/69868cb71eebf7dcdd3709e9/tout12802.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Learning from the Past","caption":"An accident 5 years previous could have prevented the Korean ferry capsizing.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/78269/south-korea-ferry-japanese-capsizing/","name":"South Korean Ferry Disaster Mirrors Earlier Japanese Boat Capsizing"}}]}] ```