Rescued passengers cry at a gym where they gathered in Jindo
Seoul, South Korea:
Coast guard and navy divers searched a ferry Wednesday after it sank off the southwestern tip of South Korea while taking hundreds of high school students to a resort island.
Two people were confirmed dead, but the South Korean government said Wednesday afternoon that as many as 290 people remained unaccounted for, dramatically revising an earlier estimate.
Fears of a major disaster increased as rescued passengers told South Korean media that they believed many people had been trapped on the ship, which tilted quickly to one side and began sinking.
The South Korean Ministry of Security and Public Administration initially said that 368 of the 477 passengers and crew members were known to have been rescued. But it later revised its figures, saying that about 290 people remained unaccounted for. It attributed the mistake to confusing reports from the rescue scene.
Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister in charge of the central government's emergency response team, said the number of survivors could grow, since many passengers had been picked up by fishing boats and taken to different ports on the islands scattered in the region.
But the national news agency Yonhap quoted one rescued passenger as saying that people in the ferry's cafeteria and games room below the main passenger decks might not have escaped.
"The internal broadcast advised us to remain in our seats," Yonhap quoted the 57-year-old passenger, identified only by his last name, 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 wonder why they didn't tell us to evacuate immediately," he added, according to Yonhap.
Officials said a high school student and a crew member were known to have been killed.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. South Korean media cited unidentified passengers rescued from the ship as saying that the ship had begun tilting severely after a loud impact. The ship later capsized and sank, with only its tip protruding from the water.
The 6,825-ton ferry, the Sewol, was sailing from Incheon, west of Seoul, to the resort island of Jeju, which is 60 miles off the south coast of South Korea, on Wednesday morning when it sent a distress signal, triggering the rescue operation. Among the passengers were 325 students from Danwon High School in Ansan, south of Seoul.
The 24-hour news channel YTN quoted students as describing a chaotic scene in which passengers tripped and bumped into one another as the ship tilted and water came in. They said they jumped into the water in life jackets and swam to fishing boats that were arriving on the scene.
Parents gathered at the Ansan school waiting for news. Others were rushing to ports in southwestern South Korea hoping to meet their children there. Some of them learned of the accident when their children called them from the ship. Local television showed students who had not joined the trip weeping at the news.
One 27-year-old female crew member was found dead in the water. Another person, male, died while being treated at a hospital.
Coast guard and navy ships, along with fishing boats, rushed to the scene. South Korean television footage showed coast guard helicopters pulling passengers off the badly tilting ship. It also showed students swaddled in blankets after being plucked from the water.
Pictures released by the coast guard showed rescue ships and inflatable lifeboats near the ferry. The waters were strewn with debris.
The students were on an overnight voyage to Jeju, where they had been scheduled to arrive Wednesday morning for a four-day field trip that included sightseeing. Their 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 ferry was also carrying 150 cars and trucks.
Two people were confirmed dead, but the South Korean government said Wednesday afternoon that as many as 290 people remained unaccounted for, dramatically revising an earlier estimate.
Fears of a major disaster increased as rescued passengers told South Korean media that they believed many people had been trapped on the ship, which tilted quickly to one side and began sinking.
The South Korean Ministry of Security and Public Administration initially said that 368 of the 477 passengers and crew members were known to have been rescued. But it later revised its figures, saying that about 290 people remained unaccounted for. It attributed the mistake to confusing reports from the rescue scene.
Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister in charge of the central government's emergency response team, said the number of survivors could grow, since many passengers had been picked up by fishing boats and taken to different ports on the islands scattered in the region.
But the national news agency Yonhap quoted one rescued passenger as saying that people in the ferry's cafeteria and games room below the main passenger decks might not have escaped.
"The internal broadcast advised us to remain in our seats," Yonhap quoted the 57-year-old passenger, identified only by his last name, 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 wonder why they didn't tell us to evacuate immediately," he added, according to Yonhap.
Officials said a high school student and a crew member were known to have been killed.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. South Korean media cited unidentified passengers rescued from the ship as saying that the ship had begun tilting severely after a loud impact. The ship later capsized and sank, with only its tip protruding from the water.
The 6,825-ton ferry, the Sewol, was sailing from Incheon, west of Seoul, to the resort island of Jeju, which is 60 miles off the south coast of South Korea, on Wednesday morning when it sent a distress signal, triggering the rescue operation. Among the passengers were 325 students from Danwon High School in Ansan, south of Seoul.
The 24-hour news channel YTN quoted students as describing a chaotic scene in which passengers tripped and bumped into one another as the ship tilted and water came in. They said they jumped into the water in life jackets and swam to fishing boats that were arriving on the scene.
Parents gathered at the Ansan school waiting for news. Others were rushing to ports in southwestern South Korea hoping to meet their children there. Some of them learned of the accident when their children called them from the ship. Local television showed students who had not joined the trip weeping at the news.
One 27-year-old female crew member was found dead in the water. Another person, male, died while being treated at a hospital.
Coast guard and navy ships, along with fishing boats, rushed to the scene. South Korean television footage showed coast guard helicopters pulling passengers off the badly tilting ship. It also showed students swaddled in blankets after being plucked from the water.
Pictures released by the coast guard showed rescue ships and inflatable lifeboats near the ferry. The waters were strewn with debris.
The students were on an overnight voyage to Jeju, where they had been scheduled to arrive Wednesday morning for a four-day field trip that included sightseeing. Their 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 ferry was also carrying 150 cars and trucks.
© 2014, The New York Times News Service
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