SOUTH KOREA: South Koreans mourn the death of sunken ferry victims

Record ID: 524959

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: South Koreans mourn the death of sunken ferry victims
  • Date: 27th April 2014
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (APRIL 27, 2014) (REUTERS) SOUTH KOREAN MOURNERS STANDING IN LINE IN FRONT OF SEOUL CITY HALL / BANNER READING IN KOREAN "I AM SORRY" YELLOW RIBBON TO EXPRESS CONDOLENCE FOR SUNKEN FERRY VICTIMS ON BANNER MOURNERS HOLDING FLOWERS AND STANDING IN LINE GIRL HOLDING FLOWER MOURNERS WALKING INTO MEMORIAL ALTARs VARIOUS OF MOURNERS BOWING VARIOUS OF MOURNERS
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saint Barthelemy
  • Country: Saint Barthelemy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADCZXLCLE9RD1VOI51STSAWWHW
  • Story Text: South Korean mourners grieved on Sunday (April 27) over victims who died after a ferry carrying 476 passengers capsized last week.
    The Sewol ferry sank on a routine trip south from the port of Incheon to the traditional holiday island of Jeju on April 16.
    More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers on a field trip from the Danwon High School on the outskirts of Seoul, have died or are missing and presumed dead.
    The children on board the Sewol were told to stay put in their cabins, where they waited for further orders.
    A temporary memorial altar was set up in front of Seoul city hall for people to pay their respects.
    Mourners offered white chrysanthemums and left condolence messages on yellow ribbons for the victims.
    "I was a junior student in high-school few years ago, so I feel like I lost my friends," said 20-year-old South Korean mourner Jang Han-sol.
    "I hope victims, who are suffering pain in the water, can be moved out as soon as possible. It really breaks my heart," said 40-year-old South Korean mourner Lee Dong-im.
    Over in the port city of Jindo, where the sunken ferry left hundreds dead or missing at its front water, people trickled to an altar to pay their tribute on Sunday.
    The county of Jindo, a southeastern island linked to the mainland of South Korea with a bridge, has been under sombre grief since the April 16 accident happened at seas about 25 kilometers (16 miles) off its coast.
    More than 500 people have visited the floral tribute to the victims who drowned in the sinking ferry since the memorial altar was set in a community centre on Saturday (April 26).
    One of the visitors said the slow rescue process was painful to watch.
    "The rescue operation was too tardy to save the people, and I felt as if my own children were drowning. I cried a lot," 66-year-old local resident Heo Soon-ja said.
    A teenager at the memorial said she was shocked by the tragedy.
    "I was very surprised because our school was also on a field trip when the accident happened. It's too sad," 14-year-old local student Han Ji-yeon said.
    The search operation at the seas near the sunken ferry on Sunday have been hampered by bad weather and fast tidal currents.
    The confirmed death toll on Sunday was 188. 114 people are still missing in the sunken Sewol ferry.
    Earlier in the day, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won announced his resignation over the government response to the ferry disaster, in which it was first announced that everyone had been rescued, focusing attention on poor regulatory controls.
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