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| Hopes Fade for Families in Ferry Disaster | Hopes Fade for Families in Ferry Disaster |
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| JINDO, South Korea — “I know you are cold, hungry, scared, hurt down there,” said one of the well-wishers’ notes stuck on a rescuers’ tent on a pier on this island. “My dear, the rope of life is coming your way.” | JINDO, South Korea — “I know you are cold, hungry, scared, hurt down there,” said one of the well-wishers’ notes stuck on a rescuers’ tent on a pier on this island. “My dear, the rope of life is coming your way.” |
| Such messages sounded more forlorn than hopeful on Wednesday, as divers searching the ferry that sank a week earlier in waters off southeast South Korea brought out scores of bodies, nearly all of them high school students, but reported no sign of life inside. With hopes of finding more survivors all but gone, some families, as well as the nation, began bidding farewell on Wednesday to the students whose bodies have been recovered. | |
| In Ansan, a city south of Seoul, where the students’ Danwon High School is located, students and relatives filed in, some weeping, some wailing, and laid long-stemmed white chrysanthemums, traditional flowers for funerals in Korea, before an altar in an indoor gymnasium. | In Ansan, a city south of Seoul, where the students’ Danwon High School is located, students and relatives filed in, some weeping, some wailing, and laid long-stemmed white chrysanthemums, traditional flowers for funerals in Korea, before an altar in an indoor gymnasium. |
| On the memorial service altar was a row of photographs of students, many smiling, who were found dead in the 6,825-ton ferry. | On the memorial service altar was a row of photographs of students, many smiling, who were found dead in the 6,825-ton ferry. |
| Survivors said most of the 325 students on board on a school trip were trapped inside the ship after the crew repeatedly urged them to stay where they were even though the ship was badly listing. Most of the crew members, however, were among the first to flee the ship, while no survivors have come out to report that they heard an evacuation order. | Survivors said most of the 325 students on board on a school trip were trapped inside the ship after the crew repeatedly urged them to stay where they were even though the ship was badly listing. Most of the crew members, however, were among the first to flee the ship, while no survivors have come out to report that they heard an evacuation order. |
| Politicians, government officials and citizens lined up in the temporary memorial center in Ansan to offer their tribute to young lives wasted in one of the country’s worst peacetime disasters, while the country was gripped by soul-searching over how South Korea, no longer a third-world military dictatorship but a globalized economic powerhouse, could suffer a calamity of this scale. | Politicians, government officials and citizens lined up in the temporary memorial center in Ansan to offer their tribute to young lives wasted in one of the country’s worst peacetime disasters, while the country was gripped by soul-searching over how South Korea, no longer a third-world military dictatorship but a globalized economic powerhouse, could suffer a calamity of this scale. |
| As of Wednesday afternoon, the death toll had risen to 150, as divers recovered more bodies from inside the ship. The officials said 152 people, the vast majority of them students, were still missing and presumed dead. | As of Wednesday afternoon, the death toll had risen to 150, as divers recovered more bodies from inside the ship. The officials said 152 people, the vast majority of them students, were still missing and presumed dead. |
| “The saddest thing about this disaster is that the young students did as the adults told them to, but the adults abandoned them in a crisis and the system didn’t save them,” said M.J. Hwang, a professor of sociology at Korea University, referring to the difficulties young students have in questioning decisions by their elders in the Confucian and hierarchical South Korean society. | “The saddest thing about this disaster is that the young students did as the adults told them to, but the adults abandoned them in a crisis and the system didn’t save them,” said M.J. Hwang, a professor of sociology at Korea University, referring to the difficulties young students have in questioning decisions by their elders in the Confucian and hierarchical South Korean society. |
| Grief and condolences, as well as anger, swept through the online communities of this highly wired nation. This week, a spontaneous campaign started online, with thousands of Facebook and Twitter users posting messages of condolences for the students, many of them venting anger at the government and the ferry’s crew and owner for not preventing the disaster. | Grief and condolences, as well as anger, swept through the online communities of this highly wired nation. This week, a spontaneous campaign started online, with thousands of Facebook and Twitter users posting messages of condolences for the students, many of them venting anger at the government and the ferry’s crew and owner for not preventing the disaster. |
| Many of them replaced their online ID photos with one showing a black funeral ribbon in a yellow background. | Many of them replaced their online ID photos with one showing a black funeral ribbon in a yellow background. |
| On Wednesday, prosecutors sought to arrest three more members of the ship’s 29-member crew. So far, seven of them, including the captain, Lee Jun-seok, have been arrested on various criminal charges, including accidental homicide, that stemmed from their decision to leave the ship before the passengers. | On Wednesday, prosecutors sought to arrest three more members of the ship’s 29-member crew. So far, seven of them, including the captain, Lee Jun-seok, have been arrested on various criminal charges, including accidental homicide, that stemmed from their decision to leave the ship before the passengers. |
| At Paengmok Port on the southern coast of this island, families, exhausted after eight days of camping out in the tents, waited for navy and civilian divers to bring in more bodies. When new bodies arrived, the grim work of identifying the corpses began. | At Paengmok Port on the southern coast of this island, families, exhausted after eight days of camping out in the tents, waited for navy and civilian divers to bring in more bodies. When new bodies arrived, the grim work of identifying the corpses began. |
| Many of the bodies were too decomposed to allow identification by sight. Some did not carry any ID cards. Officials put brief descriptions of the bodies and their personal effects on a billboard to help families trying to identify their loved ones. | Many of the bodies were too decomposed to allow identification by sight. Some did not carry any ID cards. Officials put brief descriptions of the bodies and their personal effects on a billboard to help families trying to identify their loved ones. |
| About one body, believed to be that of a female student, officials offered these details: “160 centimeters tall, a mole behind the left ear, a piercing in the left nostril, a mole in the neck, nail paint on the left fingers.” Hoodies, trainers, and sports pants were common items found on these teenagers who had finished breakfast last Wednesday morning after their first night on the ship and were taking a break when the ship began listing. | About one body, believed to be that of a female student, officials offered these details: “160 centimeters tall, a mole behind the left ear, a piercing in the left nostril, a mole in the neck, nail paint on the left fingers.” Hoodies, trainers, and sports pants were common items found on these teenagers who had finished breakfast last Wednesday morning after their first night on the ship and were taking a break when the ship began listing. |
| “Identification has become a problem as bodies have begun decomposing,” said Ahn Sang-don, a senior prosecutor in charge of investigating the sinking. | “Identification has become a problem as bodies have begun decomposing,” said Ahn Sang-don, a senior prosecutor in charge of investigating the sinking. |
| Family members have been supplying DNA samples to help officials identify bodies. But even before test results are received, officials have allowed some grieving and anxious families desperate to put an end to their ordeal to take bodies they are certain to be those of their children, on the condition that they not bury them until DNA tests provide confirmation. | Family members have been supplying DNA samples to help officials identify bodies. But even before test results are received, officials have allowed some grieving and anxious families desperate to put an end to their ordeal to take bodies they are certain to be those of their children, on the condition that they not bury them until DNA tests provide confirmation. |
| One family had kept a body for two days, holding a family memorial service, when the DNA test results showed that it belonged to another student, Mr. Ahn said. Their actual child had been left in a temporary morgue for two days without being claimed. | One family had kept a body for two days, holding a family memorial service, when the DNA test results showed that it belonged to another student, Mr. Ahn said. Their actual child had been left in a temporary morgue for two days without being claimed. |