Hundreds Missing After South Korean Ferry Sinks

[katietornado]

I didn't see this posted yet.

www.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/world/asia/south-korean-ferry-accident.html?hp&_r=0

SEOUL, South Korea — More than 280 people, most of them students, remained unaccounted for Wednesday night as coast guard and navy divers continued to search a ferry that sank hours earlier off the southwestern tip of South Korea.

By nightfall, four people were confirmed dead, including a high school student 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 that many people had been trapped below deck after those aboard heard a loud noise and the ship began sinking rapidly.

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.

“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.”

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.

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.

The ministry reported that a total of 174 passengers and crew members were known to have been rescued; given the known deaths, that left 284 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 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.

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 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.

A 27-year-old female crew member was found dead in the water, and a male student died while being treated at a hospital. Two other male victims were later found; further details were not immediately available.
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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.

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.

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.

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.

“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 wonder why they didn’t tell us to evacuate immediately,” he added.

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.

Kim Tae-young, a student, also remembered seeing many passengers in the cafeteria and game room when the ship began leaning.

“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.”

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.

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.

[origami]

[zelda25]

I just assumed when I heard this earlier today that N. Korea is involved. I'll be hard-pressed to give that up.

[origami]

sushi
Is there a safe way to get to Jeju? Is the other option flying a rickety ass propeller plane? Hold me.

[Velar Fricative]

How horrible.

[downtoearth]

So terrible.

[irishbride2]

I made the mistake of reading the comments on the CNN article.

I hate people.

[Velar Fricative]

Apr 17, 2014 4:43:31 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

I made the mistake of reading the comments on the CNN article.

I hate people.

Jesus Christ, what kind of gross comments could be posted on a story like this? Never mind, don't wanna know.

[Velar Fricative]

The articles with texts from missing people to their families are just heartbreaking.

[secretlyevil]

I just saw this on the news. How very sad.

[anonymous]

this is such an awful story. second graders are lost. second grade, ugh

[origami]

Apr 17, 2014 6:14:20 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The articles with texts from missing people to their families are just heartbreaking.

I couldn't even finish the article because of that. Heartbreaking.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

I skimmed this article, but CNN reported today that only 1 of 46 lifeboats was deployed. That's horrific.

[2curlydogs]

I've been following this. A friend's sister is in Korea for a semester abroad but wasn't part of this group, thankfully. She'd visited about 2 weeks ago.

The text messages just kill me. I just can't with those.

[sushi]

I would have flown. Sorry, origami. Rickety ass planes don't bother me. I never made it to jeju, though.

Go to okinawa-ken i'd you want something similar.

[irishbride2]

Apr 17, 2014 6:13:43 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Apr 17, 2014 4:43:31 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

I made the mistake of reading the comments on the CNN article.

I hate people.

Jesus Christ, what kind of gross comments could be posted on a story like this? Never mind, don't wanna know.

If you don't want to know, don't read the following:









The one that made me throw things was along the lines of "Those dog eaters deserve it"

[Deleted]

The vice principal of the high school on the trip committed suicide. They found him hanging in a tree.

www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/18/us-korea-ship-idUSBREA3F01Y20140418

[katietornado]

Apr 18, 2014 8:57:43 GMT -5 @muggle said:

The vice principal of the high school on the trip committed suicide. They found him hanging in a tree.

www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/18/us-korea-ship-idUSBREA3F01Y20140418

Oh my dear God.

[2curlydogs]

Apr 18, 2014 8:57:43 GMT -5 @muggle said:

The vice principal of the high school on the trip committed suicide. They found him hanging in a tree.

www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/18/us-korea-ship-idUSBREA3F01Y20140418

Oh my god. 

[AAM2012]

There is a warrant out for the captains arrest since he immediately abandoned ship.

The ship announcements were telling people it is safer inside . So tragic and scary. You trust those who are operating something so large to tell you correct info, especially in an emergency.

[origami]

Apr 18, 2014 9:18:49 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

There is a warrant out for the captains arrest since he immediately abandoned ship.

The ship announcements were telling people it is safer inside . So tragic and scary. You trust those who are operating something so large to tell you correct info, especially in an emergency.

especially if you're a child. What a nightmare.

[karinothing]

Do captains not follow the rules of the sea anymore? I mean the captain of the Costa Concordia left before all the passengers were off too. I mean I get it, it is scary but dude do your job. You signed up for this.

[iammalcolmx]

My god

[anonymous]

an article I read said the captain also wasn't at the helm when whatever happened to cause this, actually happened.

Also, 1 of 46 life boats-that is fucked up

[Velar Fricative]

Jesus Christ, this is reminiscent of the Staten Island Ferry crash in 2003. Although that "only" killed 11 people, one pilot wasn't at the helm like he was supposed to be and the other pilot tried to commit suicide after escaping from the boat. Why do these fuckers get to mess around with people's lives??

It kills me that the only reason some people survived this SK ferry crash is because they *didn't* listen to instructions to stay on the boat. I would have been one of those people who listened because I am a silly rule-follower.

[2curlydogs]

Seriously, has anyone else ever seen the movie White Squall? That film completely fucked me over for this sort of thing. I can only imagine one thing worse than being trapped on a sunken/sinking ship, knowing you're going to die (that would be burning alive).

[anonymous]

Apr 18, 2014 10:08:48 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jesus Christ, this is reminiscent of the Staten Island Ferry crash in 2003. Although that "only" killed 11 people, one pilot wasn't at the helm like he was supposed to be and the other pilot tried to commit suicide after escaping from the boat. Why do these fuckers get to mess around with people's lives??

It kills me that the only reason some people survived this SK ferry crash is because they *didn't* listen to instructions to stay on the boat. I would have been one of those people who listened because I am a silly rule-follower.

That part of it is very reminiscent of 9/11-people being told to not evacuate the twin towers after the first plane hit.

[Velar Fricative]

WTF?