296 missing after Korean ferry sinks
Almost 300 people are still missing after a ferry carrying 476 people, most of them high school students, sank in cold waters off South Korea’s southern coast.
Authorities confirmed two people had died and 295 were unaccounted for as dozens of boats, helicopters and divers scrambled to rescue passengers who had been on the ferry travelling to the southern island of Jeju.
One rescued passenger said he believed many people were trapped inside the ferry when it sank.
More than 30 navy and coastguard divers are searching the near-sunken ship for survivors, according to emergency officials.
The vessel sent a distress call after it began listing, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The government said about 95% of the ferry, whose passengers included 325 high school students on a trip to the popular tourist island, was submerged.
Media photos showed wet students, some without shoes, some wrapped in blankets, tended to by emergency workers. One student, Lim Hyung-min, told broadcaster YTN from a gym on a nearby island that he and other students jumped into the ocean wearing life jackets and then swam to a nearby rescue boat.
“As the ferry was shaking and tilting, we all tripped and bumped into each another,” Mr 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,” he said.
The water temperature in the area was cold enough to cause signs of hypothermia after about 90 minutes or two hours, according to an emergency official. Mud on the ocean floor made underwater search operations difficult.
