South Korea has dispatched coastguard vessels to rescue 450 passengers mostly high-school students on a ferry sinking off the southern coast. Courtesy: Sky News
A MULTI-storey ferry carrying 459 people, mostly high school students on an overnight trip to a tourist island, sank off South Korea's southern coast, leaving nearly 300 people missing despite a frantic, hours-long rescue by ships and helicopters.
At least four people were confirmed dead and 55 injured when the ferry bound for Jeju, the largest island in South Korea, sank off Byeongpung Island.
Search and rescue ... The South Korea Coast guard look for survivors after a ferry capsized en route to Jeju Island. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
The high number of people unaccounted for — likely trapped in the ship or floating in the ocean — raised fears that the death toll could rise drastically, making it one of South Korea's biggest ferry disasters since 1993 when 292 people died.
One student, Lim Hyung-min, told broadcaster YTN after being rescued that he and other students jumped into the ocean wearing life jackets and then swam to a nearby rescue boat.
Saving lives ... South Korea Coast Guard members rescuing some of the passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry sinking on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. Source: AFP
"As the ferry was shaking and tilting, we all tripped and bumped into each another," Lim said, adding that some people were bleeding. Once he jumped, the ocean "was so cold. ... I was hurrying, thinking that I wanted to live."
Local television stations broadcast live pictures of the ship, Sewol, listing to its side and slowly sinking even as passengers were jumping out or being winched up by helicopters. At least 87 vessels and 18 aircraft swarmed around the stricken ship.
Taken to safety ... a rescued girl being brought onto land in Jindo. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
Rescuers clambered over its sides, pulling out passengers wearing orange life jackets. But the ship overturned completely and continued to sink slowly. Within a few hours only its blue-and-white bow was seen sticking out of the water. Very soon that too had disappeared.
Survivors ... passengers wrapped in blankets are brought onto land in Jindo after a South Korean ferry capsized on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. Picture: AFP PHOTO/YONHAP Source: AFP
Some 160 coast guard and navy divers searching for survivors inside the ship's wreckage, a few kilometres from the shore of Byeongpung Island, which is not far from the mainland. The area is about 470 kilometres from Seoul.
Those rescued — wet and many without shoes — were brought to the nearby Jindo Island, where medical teams wrapped them in pink blankets and checked them for injuries before settling them down on the floor of a cavernous gymnasium hall.
Taking on water ... the ferry capsized about 20km off the island of Byungpoong in Jindo. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
The ship had set sail from Incheon, a city in the northern part of the country and the site of South Korea's main international airport, for an overnight, 14-hour journey to the tourist island of Jeju.
About three hours from its destination, the ferry sent a distress call at about 9am local time Wednesday after it began listing to one side, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. Officials didn't know what caused it to sink, and said the focus was still on rescuing survivors.
Grim search ... the ferry was carrying 477 people when it capsized. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister for South Korea's Public Administration and Security Ministry, said 30 crew members, 325 high school students, 15 school teachers and 89 non-student passengers were aboard the ship.
Kang Byung-kyu, a government minister, said two of the dead were a female crew member and a male high school student. He said a third body was also believed to be that of a student. A coast guard officer confirmed a fourth fatality but had no immediate details about it.
Help on its way ... helicopters heading to aid passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry sinking. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
He said 164 people were rescued, of whom 55 were injured. He said 292 people were missing, likely either trapped inside the ship or floating in the ocean.
Yonhap news agency said the 146 metre-long ship, which travels twice a week between Incheon and Jeju, was built in Japan in 1994 and could carry a maximum of 921 people, 180 vehicles and 152 shipping containers.
The water temperature in the area was about 12 degrees Celsius, cold enough to cause signs of hypothermia after about 1.5 to 2 hours of exposure, according to an emergency official who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules. Officials said mud on the ocean floor made underwater search operations difficult.
Frantic rescue ... South Korean coast guard officers rescue passengers from a sinking ferry off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, South Korea. Source: AP
It was not immediately known how deep was the ocean floor.
Passenger Kim Seong-mok told YTN that he was "certain" that many people were trapped inside the ferry as water quickly rushed in and the severe tilt of the vessel kept them from reaching the exits. Some people urged those who couldn't get out of the ferry to break windows.
Moving to safety ... passengers wrapped in blankets being brought onto land in Jindo. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
Kim said that after having breakfast he felt the ferry tilt and then heard it crash into something. He said the ferry operator made an announcement asking that passengers wait and not move from their places. Kim said he didn't hear any announcement telling passengers to escape.
The students — half of them boys and half girls- are from Ansan High School in Ansan city, which is near Seoul, and were on their way to Jeju island for a four-day trip, according to a relief team set up by Gyeonggi Province, which governs the city.
Rescue underway ... a helicopter rescuing some of the passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry sinking. Source: AFP
There are faster ways to get to Jeju, but some people take the ferry from Incheon because it is cheaper than flying. Many South Korean high schools organise trips for students in their first or second years. The students on the ferry were in their second year, which would make most of them 16 or 17.
At the high school, students were sent home and parents gathered for news about the ferry.
Park Ji-hee, a first-year student, said she saw about a dozen parents crying at the school entrance and many cars and taxis gathered at the gate as she left in the morning.
She said some students in her classroom began to cry as they saw the news on their handsets. Teachers tried to soothe them, saying that the students on the ferry would be fine.
The Maritime Ministry said the two previous deadliest ferry disasters were in 1970 when 323 people drowned and in 1993 when 292 people died.
Clinging to the side hoping to be rescued ... South Korea Coast Guard members in helicopters trying to rescue some of the 477 passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry that capsized on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. Source: AFP
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