NAVAL divers were searching the wreck of a ferry that sank off South Korea with hundreds of school pupils on board yesterday, as fears deepened that many of the 300 missing passengers may have died after being trapped inside.
Hopes of finding survivors were fading as night fell over the cold waters off the country’s southern coast.
“I’m afraid there’s little chance for those trapped inside still to be alive,” Cho Yang-Bok, a rescue team official, told YTN television.
Parents of the pupils – most thought to be aged 16 and 17 – wept as they gathered at the school in Ansan city near Seoul, desperate for news of their children.
There were suggestions from survivors that the ferry operator had told passengers to stay in their positions as the ship sank, ending any chance of escape.
Four were confirmed dead, but what at first appeared to be an impressive rescue effort threatened to become a major maritime disaster as an early tally of 100 missing tripled after a revision by South Korean officials.
The US Navy sent the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard to join the operation, as authorities said that mud on the seabed was complicating the underwater search.
The Sewol ferry was carrying 459 people, of whom 164 have been rescued. It was not immediately clear why it listed heavily and capsized in apparently calm and clear conditions, but some survivors spoke of an impact before the accident. “It was fine. Then the ship went ‘boom’ and there was a noise of cargo falling,” said Cha Eun-ok, who was on the deck taking photographs at the time. Another survivor, a male pupil, said passengers had been told to stay in their seats before the vessel listed sharply, causing panic. “The crew kept telling us not to move,” he said. “Then it suddenly shifted over and people slid to one side and it became very difficult to get out.”
Another student, Lim Hyung-min, said he and other passengers jumped into the sea.
“As the ferry was shaking and tilting, we all tripped and bumped into each another,” he said, adding that some people were bleeding.
At least 87 vessels and 18 aircraft swarmed around the stricken ferry. Rescuers clambered over its sides, pulling out passengers. The ship then overturned completely and continued to sink slowly.
Survivors were taken to nearby Jindo Island, where medical teams wrapped them in blankets and checked them for injuries in a large gymnasium.
The teenagers and teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan city were on a field trip to Jeju island, about about 100km south of the Korean peninsula. The ferry – built in Japan in 1994 – had sailed from Incheon, the main port for Seoul, on Tuesday night for an overnight, 14-hour journey to the tourist island of Jeju.
At 9am yesterday, three hours from its destination and 500km from the capital, it sent a distress call after it began listing, according to the ministry of security and public administration.
Lee Gyeong-og, a vice-minister for security and public administration, said 30 crew members, 325 high school students, 15 teachers and 89 non-student passengers were on board. — The Daily Telegraph
Sea search for hundreds
Hopes of finding survivors were fading as night fell over the cold waters off the country’s southern coast.
“I’m afraid there’s little chance for those trapped inside still to be alive,” Cho Yang-Bok, a rescue team official, told YTN television.
Parents of the pupils – most thought to be aged 16 and 17 – wept as they gathered at the school in Ansan city near Seoul, desperate for news of their children.
There were suggestions from survivors that the ferry operator had told passengers to stay in their positions as the ship sank, ending any chance of escape.
Four were confirmed dead, but what at first appeared to be an impressive rescue effort threatened to become a major maritime disaster as an early tally of 100 missing tripled after a revision by South Korean officials.
The US Navy sent the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard to join the operation, as authorities said that mud on the seabed was complicating the underwater search.
The Sewol ferry was carrying 459 people, of whom 164 have been rescued. It was not immediately clear why it listed heavily and capsized in apparently calm and clear conditions, but some survivors spoke of an impact before the accident. “It was fine. Then the ship went ‘boom’ and there was a noise of cargo falling,” said Cha Eun-ok, who was on the deck taking photographs at the time. Another survivor, a male pupil, said passengers had been told to stay in their seats before the vessel listed sharply, causing panic. “The crew kept telling us not to move,” he said. “Then it suddenly shifted over and people slid to one side and it became very difficult to get out.”
Another student, Lim Hyung-min, said he and other passengers jumped into the sea.
“As the ferry was shaking and tilting, we all tripped and bumped into each another,” he said, adding that some people were bleeding.
At least 87 vessels and 18 aircraft swarmed around the stricken ferry. Rescuers clambered over its sides, pulling out passengers. The ship then overturned completely and continued to sink slowly.
Survivors were taken to nearby Jindo Island, where medical teams wrapped them in blankets and checked them for injuries in a large gymnasium.
The teenagers and teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan city were on a field trip to Jeju island, about about 100km south of the Korean peninsula. The ferry – built in Japan in 1994 – had sailed from Incheon, the main port for Seoul, on Tuesday night for an overnight, 14-hour journey to the tourist island of Jeju.
At 9am yesterday, three hours from its destination and 500km from the capital, it sent a distress call after it began listing, according to the ministry of security and public administration.
Lee Gyeong-og, a vice-minister for security and public administration, said 30 crew members, 325 high school students, 15 teachers and 89 non-student passengers were on board. — The Daily Telegraph
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