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Passengers Sent Heartbreaking Text Messages To Loved Ones While Trapped Inside Sunken Ferry
AP
A ferry sinks in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul.
"Love you all for real," one high school student texted to 30 members of his theater club. "If I've wronged any of you, forgive me."
The ferry carrying 462 passengers — many of them students — began sinking off South Korea's southern coast on Tuesday for reasons not yet known.
South Korea confirmed that 175 passengers and crew members had been rescued, but at least six people were killed and 55 were injured, according to Reuters. More than 280 are still unaccounted for.
The ferry sank in 104 foot-deep waters, where the temperature is about 54 degrees Fahrenheit — cold enough to cause hypothermia within two hours, officials told The New York Times.
Amid growing frustration with the lack of information, some parents pooled their money to hire a boat to take them closer to the ferry, The Guardian reported.
"Since the government refused to take us to the scene 11 parents chipped in 61,000 won ($60) each to hire a boat and took a reporter and a diver. But there was no rescue operation going on," said one father who declined to give his name.
Text messages sent from within were widely reported in South Korean media, as many shared the messages they have received.
"I am alive, there are students alive, please save us quickly," one father told Reuters his child texted. The father believes his child is staying alive inside an air pocket in the sunken vessel.
"Can't see a thing, it's totally dark," another message from a son to a mother read, according to CNN. "We are not dead yet, so please send along this message."
Since Wednesday, helicopters and coast guard vessels from South Korea have been working on rescue operations, but they have been hindered by mud on the ocean floor that makes the search difficult, AP reported. Even worse, many passengers followed an announcement to remain where they were inside the ferry, even after a crash was heard and it began to tilt.
"Mom," Los Angeles Times reported another student texting his mother. "This might be my last chance to tell you I love you." She messaged back, but did not receive a response.
(2nd LD) Search resumes for missing in sunken ferry
2014/04/17 11:30
SEOUL/JINDO, South Korea, April 17 (Yonhap) -- Search operations resumed in full scale Thursday for hundreds of passengers missing after their ferry sank off South Korea's southern coast a day earlier in what is believed to be one of the country's deadliest offshore accidents.
Nine out of 475 passengers, mostly high school students, aboard the 6,325-ton ferry Sewol have been confirmed dead so far, while 179 others have been rescued. But the fate of the remaining 287 remains unknown amid growing fears they are trapped inside the sunken ship.
Combing the submerged ship is the top priority in the search, though diving operations have been hampered by poor underwater visibility and strong currents at the scene. A total of 555 Navy, Coast Guard and other divers have been mobilized for the operations, officials said.
The water is very murky as currents stir up mud lying at the bottom of the sea, officials said.
"We carried out underwater searches five times from midnight until early in the morning, but strong currents and the murky water pose tremendous obstacles," said Kang Byung-kyu, minister for security and public administration, during a press briefing. "We will do our best."
Also mobilized to scour the area are 169 boats and 29 aircraft, Kang said. Two salvage cranes are also on their way to the scene to raise the sunken vessel, with one of them expected to arrive on Friday morning and the other in the evening, the minister said.
The ferry was on its way to the southern resort island of Jeju after from the port of Incheon, west of Seoul, when it sent a distress signal at 8:58 a.m. Wednesday. The circumstance leading to calling for help was not yet known, though survivors said they heard a bang before the vessel started tilting over.
Experts say the vessel could have hit an underwater rock.
The Coast Guard has been questioning the ship's captain and other crew members to determine what went wrong. Coast Guard officials said they found that the ill-fated ship deviated from a government-recommended route.
The ship also made a sharp turn in direction although it is supposed to make a gradual turn, Coast Guard officials said. The loud bang before the sinking could be from cargo shifting from the turn, experts said.
A total of 325 passengers were students from a high school in Ansan, just south of Seoul. They were on a school trip to Jeju and about 200 of the students remain unaccounted for.
The nine dead included four 17-year-old students and a 25-year-old teacher from the high school, as well as a 22-year-old female crew member. But the identities of the other three were not immediately known.
The Coast Guard said that three foreigners, including two Filipinos, were on board, without giving further details on the identity and the condition of the three.
The government has come under strong fire over its handling of the disaster. It has even been unable to figure out exactly how many people were aboard the ship, and it revised the figure, as well as the numbers of those rescued and missing, many times.
Survivors also blamed the ship's crew, saying they were repeatedly told to stay put where they were, even when the ship began tilting. Had they been told to evacuate earlier, more people would have survived the disaster, they said.
Reports say the ship's captain was one of the first to leave the vessel.
Police, meanwhile, are trying to check the authenticity of an alleged text message sent to one of the missing students' family members claiming that several people have survived in an air pocket of the capsized ferry, officers said.
The police, however, said they are not ruling out the possibility that the message could have been sent by someone as a prank.
The ship, which plies between Incheon and Jeju twice a week, was built in Japan in 1994, is 146 meters long and 22 meters wide, and has the maximum capacity of carrying 921 people, 180 vehicles and 152 shipping containers at the same time.
The United States expressed its condolences to the families of those killed.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of those who lost their lives on board the South Korea ferry, the Sewol," Marie Harf, the State Department's deputy spokeswoman, said at the start of a daily press briefing.
She described the incident as a "terrible tragedy."
The United States is ready to provide any assistance needed in the ongoing search-and-rescue efforts, she said.
The United States is ready to provide any assistance needed in the ongoing search-and-rescue efforts, she said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. military send an amphibious assault ship equipped with two helicopters to the scene to help with the search and rescue operations. The ship was on its routine patrol mission in the western sea.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed condolences and sympathy for the victims.
Thursday, 17 April 2014 06:20
I LOVE YOU. I THINK WE'RE GOING TO DIE: Anguish written in final texts from SINKING FERRY
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The ferry was carrying 462 passengers when it started going down some 60 miles off the southern tip of South Korea. Aboard were 325 students and 15 teachers from a suburban Seoul high school. While survivors told of swimming in cold water, there was no immediate word on the cause of the accident.
A heartbreaking text message from a doomed passenger to his mother came to light Wednesday as nearly 300 people remained missing from a capsized ferry off South Korea.
As the 6,825-ton ferry, the “Sewol,” slowly sank off the southern coast of South Korea, a high school student typed a tragic cellphone text to his mom.
“Mom, this might be the last chance to tell you I love you,” the student wrote in a message that was posted on the Internet and quickly went viral.
His frantic mother messaged back, but got no reply.
The emotional text wasn’t the only one sent from the ship, as ocean water filled the decks and the ferry listed and tilted onto its side.
“Dad, I can’t walk out because the ship is tilted, and I don’t see anyone in the corridor,” another terrified passenger texted her father, according to a South Korean TV station YTN.
Officials said the ferry was carrying 462 passengers when it started sinking about 9 a.m. local time 60 miles off the southern tip of South Korea.
An anxious family member seeks word of of missing passengers on the ferry 'Sewol,' which sunk off the southern coast of South Korea on Wednesday.
Aboard the ferry were 325 students and 15 teachers from Danwon High School in the Seoul suburb of Ansan.
The ferry, owned by the Chonghaejin Marine Co., set sail from Incheon, a port town west of Seoul, on what was expected to be a 13 1/2-hour trip to the volcanic island of Jeju when disaster struck without warning.
Lee Gyeong-og, South Korean vice minister of security and public administration, said 175 passengers and crew had been rescued and 281 remained unaccounted for.
A search for passsengers continued into the night after the South Korean ferry started sinking Wednesday morning.
At least 75 of the Danwan High students and staff had been saved, officials said.
The ferry’s captain, Lee Jun-seok, 69, was also among those rescued. He was being grilled by maritime cops on what went dreadfully wrong. There was no
immediate word on the cause of the accident.
One survivor, Kim Sung-mook, said he was eating breakfast when a loud bang signaled the disaster. The ship lurched side to side, toppling heavy equipment and triggering chaos.
A passenger from the sinking 'Sewol' is rescued by South Korean maritime policemen Wednesday.
“The students were falling over onto each other and bleeding,” Kim told YTN.
Rescued student Lim Hyeong-min said it felt as if someone grabbed the ferry and shook it hard.
“The ferry started tipping, and I jumped into the sea,” Lim told JTBC, another South Korean news network. “The height from the ferry to the water was lower than a one-story building. Rescue boats were right near, so I swam to one boat. The water was so cold.”
Rescuers came out in full force after the 'Sewol,' a South Korean ferry, sank in waters off Jindo Island in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea, on Wednesday.
Officials said the ferry sank in 104-foot-deep water and the ocean temperature at the time of the calamity was 54 degrees.
“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,” passenger Kim Tae-young told the cable channel News Y. “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.”
Some passengers complained about being lulled into a false sense of security by the crew.
Relatives sob as they wait for missing passengers on the South Korean ferry that sank Wednesday.
Rescue helicopters fly over the South Korean ferry that was carrying more than 460 passengers.
“The internal broadcast advised us to remain in our seats,” a 57-year-old passenger told the Yonhap national news agency. “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,” said the man, who was only identified as Yoo.
President Park Geun-hye vowed to recover all those aboard the ferry. He refused to give up hope that missing passengers might be found alive.
“We must not give up,” the president said. “We must do our best to rescue even one of those passengers and students who may not have escaped from the ship.”
Good morning Fred, the Korean ferry story is heartbreaking. I'm appalled how the passengers were told to remain seated.
ReplyDeleteI can see why the Flt 370 families are getting pissed.
Putin playing it cool on Eastern Ukraine indeed, looks like the locals will come to him along with a good portion of the defecting Ukraine military. So far it's going well, I do worry about the damn American mercs though. Putin should be able to end up with the better half at least.
Okay yesterday if felt like the world was just marking time. today feels a bit more like "something wicked this way comes". I'm not sure what has caused that change for me. Gold, silver, bitcoin down and the market was up yesterday, so it looks like the authorities are still in control, for now anyway.
Have a great day.
Good evening ! Left the house pretty early this morning , had a busy day and the office is closed Friday ! Very sad tale from Korea - hopefully , some of the kids texting are still in air pockets. But another example of how shoddily handled disaster management is in Asia .....But consider the attention Malaysia flight 370 has generated ( about 239 passengers and crew ) , while the ferry sinking has several hundred missing - many of the missing being kids and teachers ..... different situation but it puts the disasters in some context....
DeleteI think you might sense things are changing from marking time to " watch out below " , in part because we seem to be marching right toward a confrontation with Russia pertaining to Ukraine ( that is what I feel .... ) Neither US or Russia backing off , Europe sorta quaking in the corner while the big boys flex muscles !
Flight 370 families have every right to be pissed - and just wait until the figure out the SAR tent is about to come down ?
Gold more so than silver has been constrained lately - feels like the PTBs have the price on a leash , afraid to let go an inch lest they lose control. ! I always find it fascinating when world events get hairy and a natural flight to safety should occur , you often see gold beat down. On bitcoin , considering it fell down four hundred not that long ago ( China fears ) , it has rebounded generally this week.
One thought as to your last observation - IMHO , the PTBs are not in control , they were working like the dickens and overtime at that , to maintain the appearance they are in control. But they are not in control.