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South Korea ferry survivors recall being told to stay on ship: 'the ones who stayed are trapped' South Korea ferry survivors recall being told to stay on ship: 'the ones who stayed are trapped'
(about 3 hours later)
Survivors on the South Korea ferry which capsized today with over 460 people on board have spoken of the moment the ship listed heavily on to its side, in what could be the country's biggest maritime disaster in over 20 years. Passengers on South Korea ferry that capsized  after hitting a reef were told to stay where they were before the ship sank, several survivors said, as it emerged schoolchildren trapped on board sent heart-breaking text messages to their parents as they realised what was happening.
A rescue operation is continuing into the night in an attempt to locate the 280 people who remain missing. Teams of divers worked through the night to search for the 290 people who remained unaccounted for after the MV Sewol sank off the south-western coast of South Korea. Some 325 school children were among the 475 people on board the vessel.
Cha Eun-ok, who was on the deck of the Sewol ferry when it began to list badly about 20 km (12 miles) as it headed for Jeju, said an on board announcement told passengers to “stay put”. “Mom, this might be my last chance to tell you I love you,” one youth said in a text message, according to the Los Angeles Times. His mother replied, but did not get an answer. Another pupil texted his father to say “Dad, I can’t walk out because the ship is tilted too much, and I don’t see anyone in the corridor”, according to South Korea’s YTN news channel.
"The on-board announcement told people to stay put ... people who stayed are trapped," she said in Jindo, the town nearest to the scene of the accident. And an 18-year-old girl reportedly sent a message to her father saying: “Don’t worry too much dad, I am wearing a life vest and with my friends. I am inside. Still in the hallway.” He replied asking whether she should go outside, but she said: “No dad, I can’t go outside. There are many kids in the hallway, and it is tilted too high.”
Passenger Kim Seong-mok said he believed many others were trapped inside the ferry when it sank. He said he felt the ferry tilt and then heard it crash into something. Several survivors said passengers were told to remain where they were after the ferry struck the reef. Initially it did not appear the vessel was in immediate danger of sinking.
The ferry operator then made an announcement asking that passengers wait and not move from their places, Kim said, and he did not hear any announcement telling passengers to escape. Cha Eun-ok, who was on the deck taking photographs at the time, said an “on-board announcement told people to stay put... people who stayed are trapped”.
Almost 300 people, many of who are students from the Danwon High School in Ansan, a Seoul suburb, remain missing while 174 people have been rescued so far. Four people are now said to have died, including a male student and a female crew member. Parents search for their children's names among a list of survivors at Danwon high school in Ansan, South Korea
"My tears have dried up," said a mother in Jindo, where many families have gathered. "I am holding on to hope. I hope the government does everything to bring these kids back to their mothers." And a 57-year-old man, named as Yoo, told Yonhap News: “A broadcast said: ‘Stay where you are.’ But I couldn’t because the water level was rising. I wore the safety jacket and came out. If they told us to evacuate immediately, it would have been better.”
Parents search for their children's names among a list of survivors at Danwon high school in Ansan, South Korea Lim Hyung-min, a student at the school, told broadcaster YTN he and other students jumped into the ocean wearing life jackets and then swam to a nearby rescue boat. Koo Bon-hee, a 36-year-old businessman, said he and other passengers had waited for 30 minutes as the ferry filled with water and listed to one side, before floating to an exit and swimming to a fishing boat.
"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." South Korea Coast Guard members rescuing some of the 477 passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry capsizing on its way to Jeju island from Incheon.
Survivors were brought to a gymnasium in Jindo and wrapped in blankets while they received medical aid. “The rescue wasn’t done well. We were wearing life jackets. We had time,” Mr Koo said from his hospital bed. “If people had jumped into the water... they could have been rescued. But we were told not to go out.”
South Korea Coast Guard members rescuing some of the 477 passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry capsizing on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. Furious relatives of the missing threw water at journalists trying to speak to survivors and at a local politician who had arrived at the makeshift clinic. Officials said 174 people had been rescued, after initially reporting a much higher figure. Six people were confirmed dead and 55 were injured.
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. A sign of the difficulty of the search was that only four bodies had been recovered by nightfall – all picked up from the water, not the ship. The currents around the ferry impeded the search and, by early Wednesday, rescuers still were not able to get inside to see what had happened.
The Sewol vessel sent a distress call after it began listing three hours from its destination, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The school children and 15 teachers had boarded the vessel on Tuesday night at the west coast port of Incheon and slept on board. The ship was two hours away from its destination, the tourist island of Jeju. The children were due to spend a three-day holiday there.
South Korea coast guard head to stricken passengers aboard the sinking ship The number of people on board - 462 - was revised down from 477 by authorities who said some passengers had been double counted. The Ministry of Security and Public Administration initially reported that 368 people had been rescued and that about 100 were missing, but described this huge disparity between numbers as miscalculation. South Korea coast guard head to stricken passengers aboard the sinking ship
The cause of the incident has yet to be established. Many of those rescued were children who had been ordered to line up and get into waiting boats. Others were told by the captain – believed to be among the survivors – to put on life jackets and jump into the sea.
The ship has a capacity of about 900 people, an overall length of 146 metres (480 feet) and it weighs 6,586 gross tonnes. Shipping records show it was built in Japan in 1994. Officials said that some of the missing may have stayed alive in air pockets in the submerged vessel as parents and relatives gathered in reception centres, schools and government buildings demanding answers and clutching at any shred of hope.
Additional reporting by agencies