April 16, 2014: South Korean rescue helicopters fly over a passenger ship.AP/Yonhap
South Korean officials said Wednesday that nearly 300 people were still missing several hours after a passenger ferry sank off that country's southern coast, leaving at least two dead and seven injured.
A government official had said earlier Wednesday that around 100 people were unaccounted for, but the number was later revised upward due to a tallying error.
The ferry was carrying 477 people, most of them high school students, and was bound for the island of Jeju when it sent a distress call at around 9 a.m. local time Wednesday as it began leaning to one side, according to South Korea's Ministry of Security and Public Administration.
The government said about 95 percent of the ship was submerged.
Two coast guard officers told the Associated Press 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.
Media photos showed wet students, some without shoes, some wrapped in blankets, tended to by emergency workers. One student, Lim Hyung-min, told broadcaster YTN from a gym on a nearby island that he and other students jumped into the ocean wearing life jackets 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. Officials said mud on the ocean floor made underwater search operations difficult.
Local media photographs showed the ship heavily tilted onto its side, partially submerged, as helicopters flew overhead and rescue vessels and a small boat covered with an orange tarp floated nearby. Photos showed wet students wrapped in blankets as emergency workers tended to them.
"We heard a big thumping sound and the boat stopped," a passenger told the YTN news channel by telephone, The Guardian reported. "The boat is tilting and we have to hold on to something to stay seated."
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 ship would be fine.
Passenger Kim Seong-mok, speaking from a nearby island after his rescue, told YTN that he was "certain" 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 they were on their way to Jeju for a four-day trip, according to a relief team set up by Gyeonggi Province, which governs the city. The ship left Incheon port, just west of Seoul, on Tuesday evening, according to the state-run Busan Regional Maritime Affairs & Port Administration.
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 President Park Geun-hye ordered a thorough rescue operation to prevent deaths. 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
