On April 16, 2014, early in the morning, the ferry MV Sewol sank while sailing from Incheon, South Korea, to Jeju. On April 15, 2014, at 08:58 KST , the 6,825-ton ship, around 2.7 kilometres north of Byeongpungdo, sent out a distress call. A total of 476 passengers and crew members perished in the accident, including about 250 pupils from Ansan City's Danwon High School. About 40 minutes before the Korea Coast Guard (KCG) arrived on the site, fishing boats and other commercial vessels saved over half of the 172 survivors.

Sewol had 443 passengers, 33 staff members, and 2,142.7 tonnes of cargo, including 185 automobiles, on board when she sailed. 325 Danwon High School students on a school trip were among the 443 passengers. There were five passengers who weren't Korean citizens. Captain Lee Joon-seok, 69, was in command of the ship. He had been appointed as a stand-in for the permanent captain. Lee had previously taken this trip and possessed more than forty years of maritime expertise. During the voyage, Lee collaborated with 33 crew members, 19 of whom were sporadic, part-time employees.

Subsequent inquiries revealed issues with Sewol's condition at the time of departure. Even though Sewol was only permitted to carry 987 tonnes of cargo, she was carrying 2,142.7 tonnes of inadequately secured goods. The ballast tanks had not been adequately maintained, only 761.2 tonnes of ballast were loaded, and the prior trip had been completed without any additional ballast modifications being made. Captain Shin, the normal captain of Sewol, had alerted Chonghaejin to the decline in stability and linked it to the side ramp's removal. He later claimed that the corporation had threatened to dismiss him for continuing to voice his concerns.

On April 9, 2014, Shin's warnings were also communicated by a representative of the Incheon Port Authority. In response, a representative of Chonghaejin said he will deal with the individuals putting up the allegations. On April 1, 2014, Shin had also requested a repair for the broken steering gear, but this was not fulfilled. The KR had observed that Sewol had become "too heavy and less stable after modifications were made" in a stability test report dated January 24, 2014.

The ship was approximately three to five kilometres from entering the Maenggol Channel at 8:20 a.m. when Park gave Cho the command to switch the steering from autopilot to manual. At 8:27 a.m., Sewol navigated a course of around 137 degrees and reached the channel. The wind speed ranged from four to seven metres per second, the wave height was approximately 0.5 metres, and visibility was good.

Navigating a ship via the Maenggol Channel requires utmost caution due to its powerful currents. Sewol was on a commonly used route during the event, and the weather was calm. Although the channel's broader sections have shallow waters and rock hazards, the ship's normal path did not pass directly by them. Despite the fact that Park was unfamiliar with the channel, which caused prosecutors and some news organisations to describe her as inexperienced, the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal's inquiry report revealed that Park had crossed the channel on multiple occasions while aboard a different ship.

Breakfast was being served in the cafeteria when Sewol neared the last curve. CCTV footage obtained at 8:40 a.m revealed students to be there and mingling on the deck. Choi Eun-seun, one of the survivors, remembered going outside to smoke just before the tragedy happened.

Park and Cho were standing side by side at the bridge, close to the ship's wheel, just before the event. At that moment, Captain Lee wasn't present on the bridge. At 8:46 in the morning, Sewol was travelling at a course of around 136 degrees at a speed of 18 knots . Park gave Cho the command to alter the course from 135 degrees to 140 degrees, which Cho duly did.

There are differing descriptions of what transpired afterward. Park's evidence is that she gave Cho the order to alter the ship's route to 145 degrees after using the radar to confirm that Sewol's path had been altered to 140 degrees. Eight forty-eight was the order given. She ordered the wheel to be turned to port after noticing that the ship was severely listing to starboard, causing the bow to move to the right. She heard Cho cry out in a frightened voice, "The wheel isn't working," as soon as she gave the order, and the ship then began lowering.

Park's testimony and Cho's were not significantly different. He stated in his testimony that the directive to turn to 140 degrees started the listing. Cho claims that he did not receive the command to alter the course to 145 degrees; rather, he only received the instruction to alter the course to 140 degrees. Sewol made two revolutions to the left, totaling a five-degree turn, because he continued to turn to the right while clinging to the wheel.

Eventually the ship found itself facing a 145-degree path since it had not stopped its rightward turn. Cho stated in court that he turned the ship another 10 degrees to the left, for a total movement of fifteen degrees to the left, after Park ordered him to turn "in the opposite direction" at this point.

The ship attempted a fifteen-degree turn for forty seconds due to Cho's steering, the court concluded. The court came to the conclusion that Cho was trying to turn to the left when he mistook Park's command for a turn in the opposite direction because he was startled by the ship turning faster than anticipated when he was obeying Park's order to turn to 145 degrees. This caused him to turn right, which quickly caused the ship's front to turn right.

The joint investigation team stated that Sewol's abrupt turn was a result of both the steering error and the reduced restoring force due to overloading; nevertheless, no issues with the generator or batteries were found throughout the examination. The ship's rotational velocity increased from 0.29 degrees per second (dps) to 0.83, 1.00, and 2.00 till 8:49:39, according to AIS data; these numbers were in line with earlier testing results obtained from earlier tests carried out on an empty Sewol.

As a result, at 8:49:40, the ship leaned twenty degrees into the ocean, forcing cargo to collapse to one side. The hit resulted in incorrect readings of 15 dps at 8:49:40, 14 dps the next second, and minus 11 dps the second after that on the ship's gyroscope. The ship further slanted ten degrees into the ocean as a result of the relocated cargo, which effectively reinforced the destabilising effect. Travellers also claimed to have heard a loud "bang"

Sewol started to list to port and tip towards the water as Captain Cho abruptly rotated the ship from 135 to 150 degrees. Overall, the spacecraft spun around 45 degrees to the right and then 22 degrees on the spot for a total of 20 seconds. As a result of the cargo dropping to one side of the ship, Sewol lost all of her restoring power, allowing water to enter the ship through the stern car entry and the side door leading to the cargo loading bay.

South Korea had a broad societal and political backlash following the sinking of the Sewol. The majority of the crew and the captain of the ferry were chastised by many for their behaviour. Along with President Park Geun-hye's administration for her response to the disaster and attempts to downplay government culpability, the Korean Coast Guard for its inadequate handling of the disaster, and the rescue-boat crew's apparent passivity on scene, Chonghaejin Marine, the ferry's operator, and the regulators who oversaw its operations were also criticised.

Outrage has also been expressed against the government's and the South Korean media's initial false reporting of the disaster, which claimed that everyone on board had been rescued. It has also been directed against the government for publicly downplaying the disaster's severity and choosing to prioritise its public image over the lives of its citizens by turning down aid from other nations.

The remaining eleven crew members were indicted for abandoning the ship, and on May 15, 2014, the captain and three other members were charged with murder. An arrest warrant for Yoo Byung-eun, who was identified as the owner of Chonghaejin Marine, was issued as part of a government effort to control public opinion over the official response to the sinking. However, despite a nationwide manhunt, he was not located. Police announced on July 22, 2014, that they had proven a deceased man discovered in a field near Suncheon, some 180 miles south of Seoul, was Yoo.

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