JINDO, South Korea — South Korean President Park Geun-hye said today that the captain and some crew members of the sunken ferry committed “unforgivable, murderous behavior,” while criticism of her own government’s handling of the disaster grew.

The captain initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and waited more than half an hour to issue an evacuation order as the ferry Sewol sank Wednesday. By then the ship had tilted so much it is believed that many of the roughly 240 people still missing could not escape.

Park said at a Cabinet briefing, “What the captain and part of the crew did is unfathomable from the viewpoint of common sense, unforgivable, murderous behavior.” The comments were posted on the website of the presidential Blue House.

Park said instead of following a marine traffic controller’s instructions to “make the passengers escape,” the captain “told the passengers to stay put while they themselves became the first to escape.”

“Legally and ethically,” she said, “this is an unimaginable act.”

The captain, Lee Joon-seok, and two crew members have been arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need, and prosecutors said today that four other crew members have been detained. Senior prosecutor Ahn Sang-don said prosecutors would decide within 48 hours whether to seek arrest warrants for the four.