ping
another source this morning saying the explosion was not “internal” . . . also, this article leaves more room open for the possibility this was N. Korea related
A South Korean Navy officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is not likely that the vessel sank after an internal explosion.
The officer did not rule out the possibility of an attack by the North.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2918413
Update on the Cheonan “incident” over at the Information Dissemination blog. IMO, this is sounding more, not less, like a torpedo or mine every day. If it is an accident... That’s one hell of a catastrophic failure. No fire reported, no event precursors reported, just boom? It will be interesting to see what the S.K. Defense Minister has to say . . .
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Cheonan Update
According to Korea Times, a US vessel will be joining search and rescue efforts, although at this point it’s very hard to be optimistic about finding any survivors. Efforts to determine the cause of the sinking continue:
The cause of the incident remains under investigation.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young plans to announce interim results on the cause of the tragedy to lawmakers on the National Assembly Defense Committee, today.
Initially, the JCS said an explosion either from the outside or inside appeared to have torn a hole in the rear of the vessel, shutting off the engine and sinking the ship in less than three hours. Following a visit to the scene Saturday, however, Defense Minister Kim said a thermal observation device shows that the ill-fated vessel was split in half.
Some experts interpreted Kim’s remarks as the possibility that an outside impact - either a torpedo or a mine - might have caused the destruction.
Korea Times also has a nice graphic of the impact that various events might have had on Cheonan. Salvage and investigation are supposed to take about three weeks. The accompanying story also sheds a bit more light on the “flock of birds” sighting; apparently Cheonan began firing on radar contacts after the explosion. This would seem to be consistent with either and accident or an attack; either Cheonan saw something real (a periscope?) or the panicked crew opened fire without good contacts.
Families of the crew are unhappy:
Weeping, angry relatives of 46 crew members missing after a mysterious explosion sank a South Korean navy ship sailed around the site Sunday as rescue teams struggled to search for survivors...
Some families also vented anger at the military, accusing authorities of a cover-up and saying survivors told them the Cheonan was leaky and in need of repair. They shouted “Liars!” and jumped on a car carrying the rescued ship captain as it drove away.
My understanding is that the Republic of Korea Navy has a pretty good maintenance record; if anyone with better information has a different impression please note in comments. I’d also be a bit surprised to find that the ROKN was deploying a ship that was barely seaworthy to what is, in effect, a war zone.
Posted by Robert Farley at 9:08 AM
http://www.informationdissemination.net/2010/03/cheonan-update.html#disqus_thread