A floral tribute to the children who drowned in a sinking South Korean ferry displays photographs of the victims in their school uniforms, while lines of empty spaces wait to be filled with photos once those still missing are confirmed dead.
The pictures, flowers and spaces are banked up the entire wall of a gymnasium near Danwon High School in Ansan, on the outskirts of Seoul.
“There are too many pictures, way more than I thought,” crying university student Jung Sun-a, 24, said. “And they are too young in these pictures. I really hope they can fulfil their dream in the next life. And I hope the missing kids will also come back to their parents as soon as possible.”
Photo: AFP
One wailing old woman shouted out for her granddaughter, Lee Bomi.
“Bomi is still in darkness. She hasn’t come home yet. What are we going to do? I came here to ask you. She is still in dark waters. What am I supposed to do,” the woman said.
The Sewol ferry sank on a routine trip from the port of Incheon to the southern island of Jeju. Investigations are focused on human error and mechanical failure.
More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers from Danwon High School have died or are missing and presumed dead after the disaster on Wednesday last week. The confirmed death toll yesterday was 185, with 117 people unaccounted for.
Visiting US President Barack Obama gave South Korean President Park Geun-hye the US flag that flew over the White House on the day of the disaster.
“I just want to express on behalf of the American people our deepest sympathy for the tragic loss,” Obama told her. “We join in mourning the loss of the missing, especially so many young people.”
Meanwhile, dive teams yesterday raced to pull more than 100 bodies from the ferry as storm clouds loomed and the victims’ families angrily pressed officials to wrap up the recovery effort.
Although all hope of finding survivors has been extinguished, there is still anger and deep frustration among the relatives over the pace of the recovery operation off the southern island of Jindo.
Gentle tides and good weather have helped the dive teams in recent days, but the search conditions inside the ferry are still challenging and rescuers are only managing to retrieve about 30 bodies a day.
The bereaved families have said they want all the remaining bodies removed from the ferry before the weekend — a demand that is unlikely to be met, especially with a bad weather front moving in.
“We know that weather conditions will worsen considerably and currents will become stronger from Saturday,” a coast guard spokesman told a press briefing.
On Thursday evening, a group of irate parents stormed into the Jindo office of the deputy head of the South Korean coast guard and roughly manhandled him down to the harbor.
He was kept there most of the night, sitting on the ground, along with coast guard chief Kim Seok-kyun and South Korean Marine Minister Lee Ju-young, while the relatives accused them of lying about the recovery operation and demanded more resources.
Police made no move to intervene and the three made no attempt to get away, reflecting a reluctance to antagonize the relatives at a time of widespread public anger over the official response to the disaster.
As part of their widening probe, prosecutors yesterday issued travel bans on eight current and former executives of the Korea Register of Shipping — the body responsible for issuing marine safety certificates.
Additional reporting by AFP
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS