Korean ferry sinks, 304 Dead, mostly high school students

[jimmy olsen]

Yikes. I've been on this trip on a ferry just like this one with my students, maybe the same exact one. Given that a good 95% of Koreans can't swim I hope this doesn't turn out as badly as I'm imagining.  

Lets hope this goes better than our last thread about a sinking ferry.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/15/4061985/reports-ferry-with-471-people.html

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea -- Dozens of military boats and helicopters scrambled Wednesday to rescue more than 470 people, including 325 high school students on a school trip, after a ferry sank off South Korea's southern coast, officials said. At least one person died and 14 were said to have been injured.

The ferry with 476 people was sailing to the southern island of Jeju when it sent a distress call Wednesday morning after it began leaning to one side, according to Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The government said about 95 percent of the ship was submerged.

Two coast guard officers said that a 27-year-old woman named Park Ji-yeong died. One of the officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules, said 168 passengers had been rescued so far, but gave no further details, including what caused the ship to sink or the conditions of the other passengers.

A student, Lim Hyung-min, told broadcaster YTN from a gym on a nearby island that he jumped into the ocean wearing a life jacket with other students and then swam to a nearby rescue boat.

"As the ship 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 media ran photos showing the partially submerged ship tilting dramatically as helicopters flew overhead and rescue vessels and a small boat covered with an orange tarp over it floated nearby.

The students are from a high school in Ansan city 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.

The ship left Incheon port, just west of Seoul, on Tuesday evening, according to the state-run Busan Regional Maritime Affairs & Port Administration.

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 taxies 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 ship would be fine.

A total of 16 helicopters, 34 rescue vessels and Navy divers were sent to the area, Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister for South Korea's Public Administration and Security Ministry, told a televised news conference. He said President Park Geun-hye ordered a thorough rescue operation to prevent deaths. He said 14 had been injured so far, including one described as serious, and taken to hospitals.

Lee said that Navy special forces and an underwater demolition team would help rescue passengers who'd jumped into the water as the ship sank.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/15/4061985/reports-ferry-with-471-people.html#storylink=cpy

[jimmy olsen]

2 Dead, 107 Missing

http://abcnews.go.com/International/dead-ferry-sinks-off-south-koreas-coast/story?id=23339906

[jimmy olsen]

Even worse than feared.

english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2014/04/16/99/0302000000AEN20140416002357315F.html

(7th LD) Two people dead, 290 missing in sunken ferry

2014/04/16 15:34
SEOUL/JINDO, South Korea, April 16 (Yonhap) -- A passenger ship carrying more than 470 people, mostly high school students, sank off South Korea's southern coast on Wednesday, leaving at least two people, including one student, dead and about 290 others missing.

The government had earlier announced that 368 people were rescued, but officials later acknowledged there was an error in tallying up figures. More than 290 people still remain unaccounted for, they said.

Only about 180 have been rescued so far, more than five hours after the accident, officials said, amid growing fears that many of them could be trapped inside the sunken ship, though officials said some passengers could have been rescued by private fishing boats.

The 6,325-ton Sewol was carrying 477 people, including 325 students from a high school in Ansan, just south of Seoul, when it sent out a distress signal at 8:58 a.m. in waters 20 kilometers off the island of Byeongpoong, according to the Coast Guard.

The two dead were a 27-year-old female crew member and a high school student. The sailor was found dead in the ship while the student died after being rescued. Some 27 others were taken to hospitals with injuries, including broken bones and burns, officials said.

The accident prompted a massive rescue operation involving about 40 Coast Guard and military vessels and helicopters. Divers from the Navy's ship salvage unit (SSU) were also mobilized to search the sunken ship, officials said.

A U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship equipped with two helicopters, which was on its routine patrol mission in the western sea, was moving to the scene to help with the rescue operation, U.S. Forces Korea said.

Television footage showed the ship sinking on its side and rescue workers in orange uniforms trying to help passengers leave the vessel as helicopters were flying overhead. Rescued passengers were wrapped in beige blankets one by one after arriving at a nearby port.

The ill-fated ship completely capsized and sank in two hours.

The cause of the accident was not known, though survivors said they heard a banging noise before the ship suddenly started sinking. Speculation has arisen that the ship might have hit an underwater rock or collided with another vessel.

"There was a bang and then the ship suddenly tilted over," said a survivor identified by his surname Yoo, 57. "Downstairs were restaurants, shops and entertainment rooms, and those who were there are feared to have failed to escape."

   The government said the priority is rescue operations.

"We will try to determine the cause of the accident after rescue operations are over," said Second Vice Home Affairs Minister Lee Gyeong-og said during a press briefing in Seoul.

Lee said the government will mobilize all available resources to search for the missing.

The ferry set off from the western port of Incheon on Tuesday evening later than scheduled due to dense fog, and was to arrive at the southern resort island of Jeju later on Wednesday. The students were on their way to Jeju for a four-day school trip.

The ship, which plies between Incheon and Jeju twice a week, was built in 1994, is 146 meter long and 22 meter wide, and has the maximum capacity of carrying 921 people, 180 vehicles and 152 shipping containers at the same time.

President Park Geun-hye was immediately briefed on the accident, and she ordered maximum efforts to rescue all of the passengers, stressing that all available Navy, Coast Guard and other vessels nearby should be mobilized, her spokesman said.

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[Neil]

I'm trying to find something I can enjoy about this, but I can't.  I just keep coming back to something like 'I hope they were all Zerg players' or something like that, but it's weak.

[merithyn]

It's just awful.

[dps]

I'm trying to find something I can enjoy about this, but I can't.  I just keep coming back to something like 'I hope they were all Zerg players' or something like that, but it's weak.

I was thinking more along the lines of "To bad it didn't sink while Timmay was on it", but that's pretty weak too.

(And of course, I don't really wish that or any other misfortune on him--but don't tell him that.)

[Habbaku]

I'm trying to find something I can enjoy about this, but I can't.  I just keep coming back to something like 'I hope they were all Zerg players' or something like that, but it's weak.

I was thinking more along the lines of "To bad it didn't sink while Timmay was on it", but that's pretty weak too.

Especially since it contains grammar equivalent to Tim's usual retardation.

[11B4V]

I'm trying to find something I can enjoy about this, but I can't.  I just keep coming back to something like 'I hope they were all Zerg players' or something like that, but it's weak.

It would be over Tim's head anyway.

[mongers]

Sad if true that many student were told to sit still,even as the ferry began to capsize. 

Note to self, in these situation always trust one's own instincts*.





* I'm fine with dying because of some decision I took, not at all keen on death because of some official incompetence.

[Jacob]

 

[jimmy olsen]

I'm trying to find something I can enjoy about this, but I can't.  I just keep coming back to something like 'I hope they were all Zerg players' or something like that, but it's weak.

It would be over Tim's head anyway.

Why wouldn't I recognize a Starcraft reference?

[jimmy olsen]

Sad if true that many student were told to sit still,even as the ferry began to capsize. 

Note to self, in these situation always trust one's own instincts*.





* I'm fine with dying because of some decision I took, not at all keen on death because of some official incompetence.

They can't swim, I'm not sure how fast it tipped over, but if they didn't have access to life vests then most wouldn't dare jump in the water.

[Razgovory]

I'm trying to find something I can enjoy about this, but I can't.  I just keep coming back to something like 'I hope they were all Zerg players' or something like that, but it's weak.

If only they were Egyptians.

[Admiral Yi]

Note to self, in these situation always trust one's own instincts*.

A long while back I read a story in The Atlantic about some ferry sinking in the Baltic.  One of the points the author tried to make was that the people who tried to help others died; those who scrambled to save themselves lived.  That included pushing others out of the way.

[jimmy olsen]

Note to self, in these situation always trust one's own instincts*.

A long while back I read a story in The Atlantic about some ferry sinking in the Baltic.  One of the points the author tried to make was that the people who tried to help others died; those who scrambled to save themselves lived.  That included pushing others out of the way.

I remember a comparison between the Titanic sinking and a similar ship that was torpedoed in WWI. It all came down to how fast they went down. The Titanic took a long time to sink so social norms had time to assert themselves and most survivors were women and children. The Luisitania (or whatever ship they were comparing to), in contrast most of the survivors were young healthy people who scrambeled to  save themselves.