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Hundreds Missing After South Korean Ferry Sinks Students Among Hundreds Missing After South Korean Ferry Sinks
(about 7 hours later)
JINDO, South Korea — More than 280 people, most of them students, remained unaccounted for Wednesday night, as coast guard and navy divers searched a ferry that sank hours earlier off the southwestern tip of South Korea. JINDO, South Korea — The parents waited in dread through the night, huddled under blankets in this South Korean port town, staring out to sea for a sign that rescuers had found any of the 281 people, many of them high school students, still missing after a ferry sank on Wednesday.
Scores of frantic parents and other family members rushed to this port, the closest to the site of the sinking, where survivors were taken. Some parents expressed anger that searchers were not immediately going into the submerged hull to find their children. “Why are you not going into save them?” one woman screamed at rescue workers. They refused to sleep in a tent set up for them, preferring to scan the horizon for helicopters returning from the rescue effort 11 miles off the country’s southwest coast. As the hours passed with little news of what may be one of South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters, they demanded news from officials who said that fierce tides were keeping divers from entering the ship, which had mainly slipped beneath the waves long before.
By midnight, six people were confirmed dead, including three 17-year-old high school students and a member of the ferry’s crew. But fears that the sinking could become one of the worst peacetime disasters in the country increased as rescued passengers told news outlets that they believed many people were trapped below deck. The vessel listed and sank rapidly after a loud noise was heard by people on board. “Why are you not going in to save them?” one woman screamed. Another, Chung Hae-sook, the mother of a missing 16-year-old boy, echoed her rage: “There is no tomorrow for this,” she said. “My heart is turning to ashes.”
Some rescued passengers who had been below deck told reporters that even while the ship was tilting, they were told to stay in their seats. By midnight, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, which is coordinating the rescue efforts, reported that 175 passengers and crew members had been rescued. Six people were confirmed dead, including three 17-year-old students and a member of the ferry’s crew. But fears of a much higher death toll were stoked as survivors said they believed that many people had been trapped below deck. According to some who spoke to the local news media, passengers were told to remain in their seats and may have stayed there until it was too late.
“We must not give up,” President Park Geun-hye said from the headquarters of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, which is coordinating the rescue efforts. “We must do our best to rescue even one of those passengers and students who may not have escaped from the ship.” “People were shouting, ‘Break the windows,’ but the water came up too quickly and many could not come outside,” Kim Seong-muk, a rescued passenger, told the television station YTN.
Lee Gyeong-og, vice minister of security and public administration, said that 160 navy and coast guard divers were working at the scene, but that their operations were hampered by rapid currents and poor underwater visibility. Survivors reported hearing a loud noise and feeling a jolt before the ship began to list and sink.
Among the passengers were 325 students from Danwon High School in Ansan, south of Seoul. So far, 75 of them are known to have been rescued. The students were on an overnight voyage to Jeju, a popular resort island, where they had been scheduled to arrive Wednesday morning for a four-day field trip and sightseeing. Of the 462 people aboard, 325 were students from Danwon High School in Ansan, south of Seoul. By midnight, about 75 of the students had been rescued. They had been on an overnight voyage to Jeju, a popular resort island, where they were scheduled for a four-day field trip and sightseeing.
The ministry reported that a total of 175 passengers and crew members were known to have been rescued; given the known deaths, that left 281 of the 462 people on the ferry unaccounted for. Earlier in the day, the ministry had issued different figures, including a much lower estimate for the number of missing; it attributed the mistakes to confusing reports from the scene. The students, in their second year of high school, were taking the trip as a break before their last year of high school, when they must take difficult college entrance exams.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. The South Korean news media cited unidentified passengers as saying that the ship had begun leaning severely after a loud impact. The ship later capsized and sank, with only its tip protruding from the water. So far, no South Korean official or analyst is raising the possibility of foul play by North Korea, which was accused of sinking a South Korean Navy ship with a torpedo in 2010. The North denied involvement in the 2010 explosion, in which 46 sailors were killed. One of the students who made it out, Kim Tae-young, said he had seen people in the ferry’s cafeteria and a game room on a level below him before the ship started listing.
During a brief news conference, Kim Young-bung, an executive at the Cheonghaejin Marine Company, which operated the ship, offered the company’s “deepest apology” but little detail on what might have caused the ferry to sink. “The water rushed in, up to my neck, and it was difficult to climb to the top of the boat because it was badly tilted,” he told News Y, a cable channel. “I saw shipping containers tossed off the ship’s deck and floating in the water. I also saw a vending machine toppled and two girls trapped under it.”
Maritime police said they were questioning the ship’s captain, Lee Jun-seok, 69, and other surviving crew members while arranging for cranes to be dispatched to the scene to try to lift the vessel. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. By nightfall, no South Korean official or analyst had raised the possibility of foul play by North Korea, which was accused of sinking a South Korean Navy ship with a torpedo in 2010, a charge the North denied.
The 6,825-ton ferry, the Sewol, was sailing from Incheon, a port west of Seoul, to Jeju, roughly 60 miles off the south coast of South Korea, when it sent a distress signal Wednesday morning, setting off the rescue operation. The ship, built in Japan in 1994 and operated by Cheonghaejin Marine since late 2012, had a 920-passenger capacity. During a brief news conference on Wednesday, Kim Young-bung, an executive at the Cheonghaejin Marine Company, which operated the ship, offered the company’s “deepest apology” but few details about what had happened.
A 27-year-old female crew member was found dead in the water, and a male student died while being treated at a hospital. Rescuers later found two more students from the Ansan school, as well as two victims whose identities were not immediately clear. Maritime police said they were questioning the ship’s captain, Lee Jun-seok, 69, and other surviving crew members while arranging for cranes to be dispatched to the scene, in the Yellow Sea, to try to lift the vessel.
Some parents gathered at a pier at Jindo, a major island near the site of the sinking, waiting for coast guard ships to bring news from the scene. In an indoor gym there that local officials turned into a temporary shelter for students who had been rescued, mothers collapsed in tears when they did not see their children’s names on the list of those rescued, according to South Korean television footage. The 6,825-ton ferry, the Sewol, had been sailing from Incheon, a port west of Seoul, to Jeju, roughly 60 miles off the southern coast of South Korea, when it sent a distress signal Wednesday morning, setting off the rescue operation. Video showed rescuers scaling the side of the listing ship, pulling survivors out and placing them in baskets lowered by helicopters.
“We must not give up,” President Park Geun-hye said on Wednesday from the headquarters of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. “We must do our best to rescue even one of those passengers and students who may not have escaped from the ship.”
Lee Gyeong-og, vice minister of security and public administration, said that 160 Navy and Coast Guard divers were working at the scene, but that their operations were hampered by rapid currents and poor underwater visibility.
At around 4 a.m. on Thursday, a Coast Guard official in Jindo told parents that divers had conducted five searches but were waiting for better conditions before heading back down. The sea off western South Korea has strong tides.
Of those who were already confirmed dead, one was a 27-year-old female crew member who had been found dead in the water; another was a male student who died while being treated at a hospital. Rescuers later found at least two more students from the Ansan school who had died.
South Korea has not had a major ferry accident in two decades. The last was in 1994, when a tourist ferry caught fire on a lake, killing 30 people. A year earlier, 292 people died when an overloaded ferry, sailing despite warnings of bad weather, sank off the country’s west coast.South Korea has not had a major ferry accident in two decades. The last was in 1994, when a tourist ferry caught fire on a lake, killing 30 people. A year earlier, 292 people died when an overloaded ferry, sailing despite warnings of bad weather, sank off the country’s west coast.
Mr. Lee of the security ministry declined to comment on the likelihood of finding more survivors. But a sharp increase in the death toll was feared as ships, helicopters and divers expanded their search, with no immediate results. Divers were trying to make their way into chambers of the ship where passengers were reported to have been trapped. On Wednesday, Mr. Lee of the security ministry declined to comment on the likelihood of finding more survivors. The ship sank in waters 104 feet deep, and the water temperature in the area was about 54 degrees Fahrenheit, cold enough to cause hypothermia after about two hours, officials said.
The ship’s departure from Incheon on Tuesday evening was delayed by two hours because of heavy fog off the west coast of South Korea, officials said. The ship was also carrying 150 cars and trucks, below the capacity of 180. The ship’s departure from Incheon on Tuesday evening was delayed by two hours because of heavy fog, officials said. The ship was also carrying 150 cars and trucks, below its capacity of 180.
Local news media quoted rescued passengers as saying that people in the ferry’s cafeteria and game room, below the main passenger decks, might not have escaped. Mrs. Chung — the woman who was waiting in Jindo for news of her 16-year-old son, Park Sung-ho — said he had sent her a text message saying the ferry might not leave the dock, but later messaged her that it was departing and that he would return safely.
“The internal broadcast advised us to remain in our seats,” the national news agency Yonhap quoted a 57-year-old passenger, identified only by his surname, Yoo, as saying. “But I could not stay put because the water was coming up. So I came outside with my life jacket on.” “I feel like the parents, including myself, are here waiting for our children to die,” she said.
“I wonder why they didn’t tell us to evacuate immediately,” he added. YTN quoted surviving students describing a chaotic scene in which passengers tripped and bumped into one another and luggage was tossed about as the ship leaned precariously. People jumped into the water in life jackets and swam to fishing boats that had arrived near the sinking ship, they said. The passengers were wrapped in blankets and taken to shelters and hospitals in nearby ports.
By the time many passengers tried to escape, it was too late, Kim Seong-muk, a rescued passenger, said in an interview with the all-news cable channel YTN. “People were shouting, ‘Break the windows!’ but the water came up too quickly and many could not come outside,” he said. In a text message shown on the station’s broadcast, a student had written, “Dad, I can’t walk out because the ship is tilted too much, and I don’t see anyone in the corridor.” It was unclear if he made it out.
Kim Tae-young, a student, also remembered seeing many passengers in the cafeteria and game room when the ship began leaning. Kim Dong-soo, a truck driver who was on the Sewol and said he frequently took the ferry to Jeju, told News Y that the ship began leaning sharply after it made a sharp turn to the right. It was also sailing much closer to the coast than it usually does, he said.
“The water rushed in, up to my neck, and it was difficult to climb to the top of the boat because it was badly tilted,” Mr. Kim told News Y, another cable channel. “I saw shipping containers tossed off the ship’s deck and floating in the water. I also saw a vending machine toppled and two girls trapped under it.”
YTN quoted students describing a chaotic scene in which passengers tripped and bumped into one another and luggage was tossed about as the ship leaned deeply and water came in. They jumped into the water in life jackets and swam to fishing boats nearby, they said. The passengers were wrapped in blankets and taken to shelters and hospitals in nearby ports.
In a text message shown on the station’s broadcast, a student had written: “Dad, I can’t walk out because the ship is tilted too much, and I don’t see anyone in the corridor.”
The ship sank in waters 104 feet deep, and the water temperature in the area was about 54 degrees Fahrenheit, cold enough to cause hypothermia after about two hours, officials said.
Kim Dong-soo, a truck driver who said he frequently took the ferry to Jeju and who was on the Sewol, told News Y that the ship began leaning sharply after it made a sharp turn to the right. It was also sailing much closer to the coast than it usually does, he said.
“I wonder why the rescuers who first got to the ship didn’t do anything about those 100 or 200 I think were trapped inside the ship,” he said. “They were just picking up those already on the top of the ship.”“I wonder why the rescuers who first got to the ship didn’t do anything about those 100 or 200 I think were trapped inside the ship,” he said. “They were just picking up those already on the top of the ship.”
The United States Navy’s amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard was standing by to assist in the rescue operations, the Seventh Fleet said in a news release. The ship was on a routine patrol in waters west of the Korean Peninsula at the time of the sinking, it said. It is equipped with MV-22 Osprey aircraft, MH-60 helicopters and small boats capable of conducting search and rescue operations. The ferry, built in Japan in 1994 and operated by Cheonghaejin Marine since late 2012, could hold 920 passengers.
South Korean television footage showed coast guard helicopters pulling passengers off the ship. Pictures released by the coast guard showed rescue ships and inflatable lifeboats in waters near the ferry. The waters were strewn with debris. For the parents waiting in the morning chill in Jindo, the day had been a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Soon after the accident, the ministry had given a much lower estimate of the number of missing, which it attributed to confusing reports from the scene.
And Mrs. Chung said the school had sent a message saying the students were all being rescued.
Her younger brother, who was keeping vigil with her, said he was “ashamed” of the government for not doing more.
“How can we trust them?” he said. “It feels like the divers are not going into the water lest they die. How can we trust the authorities if a war breaks out?”
Another relative of a missing child sounded resigned. “I don’t have much hope at this point,” said Choi Dae-gwang, whose son Choi Su-bin, 17, was missing. But “they should at least pretend to rescue people.”