South Korea ferry sinks: 2 dead, 295 missing

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Lee Joon-seok, captain of the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol, arrives Nov. 11 at Gwangju District Court for verdicts in the trial of the ship’s crew on charges of negligence and abandonment of passengers in the April disaster. (Hyung Min-woo / Associated Press)

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Yoo Dae-gyun, eldest son of the sunken ferry’s owner, is surrounded by reporters at the Incheon district prosecutors’ office in July. A South Korean court convicted three relatives of the owner and other associates of corruption, about four months after the owner was found dead. Yoo Dae-gyun was sentenced to three years in prison. (Han Jong-chan / Associated Press)

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An unidentified family member of passengers aboard the sunken ferry Sewol cries in October as she demands maximum punishment for the crew members during their trial in Gwangju, South Korea. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

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Family members of passengers aboard the sunken ferry Sewol wipe away tears Nov. 7 after South Korea’s National Assembly in Seoul approved plans to disband the coast guard in the wake of criticism over its failure to rescue hundreds of passengers when the ferry sank. (Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

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Portraits of the victims of the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol are seen with yellow ribbons at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul in October. (Jung Yeon-je / AFP/Getty Images)

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Relatives of victims of the South Korean ferry sinking stage a sit-in protest demanding a meeting with President Park Geun-hye on a street near the presidential Blue House in Seoul. (Jung Yeon-je / AFP/Getty Images)

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A bereaved man clutches a portrait of the daughter he lost in the ferry sinking as he joins families of other victims in a protest near the presidential house in Seoul. (Kim Chul-soo / EPA)

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In an image taken with a mobile phone by Park Su-hyeon, one of the South Korean high school students lost in the accident, and released by his father, students are shown in life vests inside the ferry before they realized it was sinking. (Park Su-hyeon / Associated Press)

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In video clips from the cellphone of victim Park Su-hyeon that were released by his father, teenagers unaware of the danger talk of taking selfies, wonder if they’ll make the news and discuss posting about the excitement later on Facebook. (Park Su-hyeon / Associated Press)

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An image from the mobile phone of sinking victim Park Su-hyeon taken aboard the ferry. (Park Su-hyeon / Associated Press)

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Students at the Ansan Olympic Memorial Hall weep and attach messages to an altar that offer their wishes for the safe return of those aboard the sunken South Korean ferry. (Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)

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In Ansan, South Korea, flowers sit on the desks of Danwon High School students killed in the sunken ferry Sewol. (Yonhap / AFP/Getty Images)

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Search and rescue teams take part in recovery operations at the site of the sunken ferry Sewol off the coast of the South Korean island of Jindo. (Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images)

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A man pays tribute at a group memorial altar for victims of the ferry disaster off Jindo Island in South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)

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People hold candles at a vigil for students killed when a South Korean ferry capsized. (Kim Doo-Ho / AFP/Getty Images)

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Flares light up the sea as South Korean coast guard vessels conduct recovery operations at the site of the sunken ferry Sewol off the coast of South Korea. (Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images)

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Bodies of passengers aboard the Sewol ferry, which sank in the water off the southern coast, are carried by rescue workers upon their arrival at a port in Jindo, South Korea. Divers continued the work of recovering bodies from inside the sunken ferry Monday, as a newly released transcript showed the ship was crippled by confusion and indecision well after it began listing. The transcript suggests that the chaos may have added to a death toll that could eventually exceed 300. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

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A relative of a passenger aboard the sunken ferry Sewol, which is in the water off the southern coast, watches the official list of the dead victims at a port in Jindo, South Korea, on Monday. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

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A relative of a passenger onboard capsized South Korean ferry Sewol weeps in an area where family members of victims of the disaster are gathered at Jindo harbor. (Nicolas Asfouri / AFP/Getty Images)

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A South Korean army medic assists a family member of missing passengers on the sunken ferry Sewol at Jindo gymnasium on Jindo Island in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea. (Jeon Heon-Kyun / EPA)

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South KoreaNavy’s Underwater Demolition Team members work during a search operation for missing people at the site of a ferry sinking off Jindo port on Jindo Island in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea. (Kimimasa Mayama / EPA)

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South Korean Coast Guard officers conduct a rescue operation around the passenger ferry Sewol sinking in waters off the southwestern coast of South Korea. (Yonhap / EPA)

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A woman cries at a port in South Korea near where a passenger ferry sank with hundreds on board. (Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)

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An aerial photo shows rescue operations for passengers aboard a South Korean ferry that capsized. Nearly 300 people were missing. (Yonhap / AFP/Getty Images)

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South Korean Coast Guard officers conduct a rescue operation around passenger ferry Sewol, sinking in waters off the coast of South Korea. (South Korea Coast Guard / EPA)

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A still image taken from video shows a helicopter rescue of passengers stranded on a ferry sinking off South Korea’s southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul. (Yonhap / Associated Press)

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Relatives of missing passengers of the South Korean passenger ferry that sank Wednesday gather at a gym in Jindo to await news from rescue teams. (Jung Yeon-Je / AFP/Getty Images)

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South Korean Coast Guard officers conduct a rescue operation around the passenger ferry Sewol, sinking off the southwestern coast of South Korea. (South Korean Coast Guard / EPA)

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A mother weeps as she and others search for their children’s names among a list of survivors rescued from a ferry that sank off South Korea’s southern coast. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

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A child rescued from the sinking passenger ferry Sewol receives medical attention from doctors at a port on Jindo Island, South Korea. (Yonhap / EPA)

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An injured passenger is transported by rescue workers after passenger ferry Sewol sank in waters off South Korea’s southern coast. (Yonhap / EPA)

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Relatives wait for news of those missing after a passenger ferry carrying 459 people sank off of South Korea’s southern coast. (Jung Yeon-Je / AFP/Getty Images)

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Parents wait for a bus to meet with children rescued from a ferry that sank off the South Korea’s southern coast. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

By From the Associated Press

April 15, 2014 11:58 PM PT

SEOUL, South Korea — The government says 295 people are still missing several hours after a ferry carrying 477, most of them high school students, sank in cold waters off South Korea’s southern coast. Officials say at least two died and seven were injured.

A government official earlier said that more than 100 people were still unaccounted for Wednesday, but officials later changed the number to 295.

There were fears of a big jump in the number of deaths, 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 that many people had been trapped inside the ferry when it sank.

The ferry sent a distress call at about 9 a.m. local time Wednesday after it began leaning to one side, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The government said about 95 percent of the ferry, whose passengers included 325 high school students on a school trip to the popular tourist island, was submerged.

Two coast guard officers said that a 27-year-old woman named Park Ji-yeong and another unidentified person had died. Both spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules. The government said five hours after the distress call that 368 of the 476 passengers had been rescued, but officials gave no further details, including what caused the ferry to sink or the conditions of the other passengers.

Photos showed wet students wrapped in blankets as emergency workers tended to them.

One student, Lim Hyung-min, told broadcaster YTN from a gym on a nearby island that he jumped into the ocean wearing a life jacket with other students and then swam to a nearby rescue 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.”

The water temperature in the area was about 12 degrees Celsius, cold enough to cause signs of hypothermia after about 90 minutes or 2 hours, according to an emergency official who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules.

Local media ran photos showing the partially submerged ferry tilting dramatically as helicopters flew overhead and rescue vessels and a small boat covered with an orange tarp over it floated nearby.

Passenger Kim Seong-mok, speaking from a nearby island after his rescue, told YTN that he was “certain” that many people were trapped inside the ship as water quickly filled up inside and the severe tilt of the ferry kept them from reaching the exits. Some people yelled at those who couldn’t get out, urging them to break windows.

Kim said that after having breakfast he felt the ferry tilt and then heard it crash into something. He said the ferry operator made an announcement asking that passengers wait and not move from their places. Kim said he didn’t hear any announcement telling passengers to escape.

The students are from a high school in Ansan city near Seoul and were on their way to Jeju island for a four-day trip, according to a relief team set up by Gyeonggi Province, which governs the city. The ferry left Incheon port, just west of Seoul, on Tuesday evening, according to the state-run Busan Regional Maritime Affairs & Port Administration.

At the high school, students were sent home and parents gathered for news about the ferry.

Park Ji-hee, a first-year student, said she saw about a dozen parents crying at the school entrance and many cars and taxies gathered at the gate as she left in the morning.

She said some students in her classroom began to cry as they saw the news on their handsets. Teachers tried to soothe them, saying that the students on the ferry would be fine.

A total of 16 helicopters, 34 rescue vessels and navy divers were sent to the area, Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister for South Korea’s Public Administration and Security Ministry, told a televised news conference. He said 14 had been injured so far, including one described as serious, and taken to hospitals.

Later Wednesday, 21 navy and 11 coast guard divers began searching the near-sunken ship for survivors, according to emergency officials.

South Korea ferry sinks: 2 dead, 295 missing

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