'Diving bell' ignites dispute among rescuers

By Nam Hyun-woo

A “diving bell” is causing controversy between civilian divers and the authorities over the efficiency of the device for search and rescue operations.

According to the Coast Guard, a barge from a civilian rescue company, Alpha Sea Rescue, carrying the diving bell arrived at the site of the sunken Sewol ferry, in waters off Jindo, South Jeolla Province, around 3 p.m., Friday. However, the bell was not submerged and the barge returned to Paengmok Port, Saturday.

The Coast Guard and the emergency task force center said, “Bad weather prevented the barge from anchoring close to existing ones.”

The diving bell, also known as wet bell, is a bell-shaped airtight chamber suspended by cables linked to floating cranes. As it is lowered underwater, it works as a means of transporting a small number of divers as well as serving as a resting base for them. Pumps on the surface provide compressed air to the bell through hoses.

Because the diving bell has to be lowered by a barge, the government was concerned that the anchoring chains would tangle with others from other floating cranes already there.

After the head of Alpha Sea Rescue, Lee Jong-in, said the diving bell can help divers to reduce the time, there have been calls for the government to use the equipment the for search and rescue operations. Families of missing passengers urged the government to use the device and the emergency task force allowed Lee to join the operation.

However, the authorities still doubt its efficiency and the safety of the device.

“The barge from Alpha Sea Rescue may tangle anchors of Undine Marine Industries’ barges. If that occurs, Undine’s anchor chains can be disconnected and workers there can be exposed to risk,” said an official at the emergency task force center.

Undine Marine Industries is contracted with Chonghaejin Marine, which owns the ill-fated ship, to handle all aspects of post-accident measures.

“Also, the device is not expected to accelerate the rescue-and-search operations, because even though there is a diving bell, divers have to repeat the same routine of securing entrance in the hull and search cabins,” the official said.

However, Lee rebutted the government’s explanation.

“There is no possibility of anchor chains tangling with each other, if the crane holding the diving bell is properly placed,” he told reporters. “If the Coast Guard is willing to cooperate with us (workers at Alpha), there is no problem at all.”

He claimed that the government and workers at Undine are opposed to his joining of the mission, because “their fear of being reprimanded if the efficiency of the diving bell is proved.”

He said the device he brought also works as an underwater chamber for decompression, which is an essential procedure before divers plunge into the deeper part of the sea.

Meanwhile, the emergency task force center official said the weather conditions became bad during the weekend.

“If the weather gets better, we will deploy the diving bell again,” he said, adding that a high sea watch is effective in the waters near the accident site.