Drunk Korean captain sentenced to prison and barred from US waters

Drunk Korean captain sentenced to prison and barred from US waters

2010-10-26 08:42:55 GMT+7 (ICT)

TACOMA, SEATTLE (BNO NEWS) -- A Korean man who was the captain of a freighter was sentenced to 14 days in prison on Monday after commanding a ship while being drunk, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Seong Ug Sin was the captain of the STX Daisy when he made the offense. Besides being sentenced to 14 days in prison, he was also ordered to six months of supervised release and was barred from sailing in U.S. waters for the duration of his sentence.

Seong was arrested on April 14 after a U.S. Coast Guard inspection crew found him drunk while in command of the 590 foot (180 meters) vessel in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. A test revealed that his blood alcohol level was more than twice than the legal limit.

The Coast Guard inspection team had difficulty boarding the STX Daisy in the early morning hours as Captain Seong failed repeatedly to follow their instructions. The ten members of the team needed to board the 20 ton freighter from a small inflatable boat during three foot (0.9 meters) swells.

Once on board, Captain Seong continued to have difficulty providing the records required, and the team determined he had no usable charts of Puget Sound. The ship was ordered to Port Angeles where Seong was given an alcohol test with a breathalyzer which revealed his high blood alcohol level.

According to prosecutors, Seong drank significant quantities of Korean whisky while on the ship along with another officer. He could have caused an accident due to his intoxication as the Straits of Juan de Fuca and down the Puget Sound to Olympia cover over 205 miles (329 kilometers) through areas characterized by narrow channels and strong currents.

"The defendant’s ship, carrying large quantities of fuel oil posed further risk to the marine environment," prosecutors said. "In the interest of public safety, a strong sentence is warranted to deter future mariners from following in this defendant’s wake."

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