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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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 Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 4:31 am Post subject: Terrible tragedy- 5 students drown at military-style camp |
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This is just awful and someone should see serious jail time for what happened.
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2974846&cloc=joongangdaily|home|top
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TAEAN COUNTY, South Chungcheong - Five high school students at a military-style summer camp were swept away by a wave in Taean County, South Chungcheong, Thursday afternoon, and drowned.
A large manhunt took all of yesterday to find their bodies.
The five students were taking part in a so-called Marines Special Camp organized by a private organizer with no affiliation with the Marines Corps, along with 193 classmates from Kongju National University High School.
The school sent all junior year students to the Taean coast for a three-day military-style camp called the Marines Corps Education Center Training ahead of the summer break.
At around 5 p.m. Thursday, 90 students were taking part in a so-called sea-ground exercise with two instructors. As the first group started the exercise, 20 students were told by the instructors to walk into the sea until the water reached their waists.
But tragedy struck when a one-meter (3.2-foot) wave hit them.
“With the establishment of a special investigation team,” Hwang Jun-hyeon, chief of the West Regional Headquarters of the Korea Coast Guard, told reporters during a press briefing yesterday, “we will get to the bottom of the accident.”
The authorities deployed 21 Coast Guard ships, four search planes, 42 divers and 242 coast guards to search for the five missing students yesterday in joint efforts involving the Army, Coast Guard and the Maritime Rescue and Salvage Association.
The authorities found the body of one of the students, Lee Jun-hyeong, about six to seven meters above the shoreline at 6:05 a.m., which is low tide.
Lee reportedly tried to save some of his classmates struggling in the wave, according to accounts by classmates given to the JoongAng Ilbo.
The body of Jin Oh-suk was found at 6:20 a.m. The bodies of Kim Dong-hwan and Jang Tae-in were found at 4:45 p.m. and 4:57 p.m. The final student, Lee Byung-hak, was found at 7:15 p.m. yesterday.
The organizer of the military-style camp is now facing scrutiny. The police investigating the accident said students were instructed not to wear life vests during the sea-water exercise.
It was also reported that local residents told the camp organizer not to proceed with programs because of poor weather. Instructors acknowledged they had been warned by the residents about potential risks, according to the investigators.
“I told the instructors they should move to another place because their location had safety risks,” said a Taean resident named Yun Hyun-geun.
Sea currents at the location are so strong in the rainy season that local residents refrain from swimming, he said.
It was also reported that the local community broadcast a warning at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, a half an hour before the accident, through speakers set up along the beach. It urged visitors on the beach to stay away from the surf as the tide was strong.
Reportedly, the two instructors in charge of the 90 students at the beach did not take part in rescue efforts, presumably because they can’t swim.
“I heard [from students] that the instructors were doing nothing but just standing there waving flags signalling for help,” a family member of one of the five students was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
Many military-style camps have sprung up in recent years. Schools send students and companies send newly-recruited employees to the camps for bonding and strengthening of group discipline. And many are not licensed by the government.
The organizers of the camp in Taean do not have certification by the Ministry of Education.
“The majority of instructors at private military camps have no experience in leading students, especially in safety measures,” said Jung Jin-ho, director of the Association of Youth Training Education Center, an industry group.
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 4:44 am Post subject: Re: Terrible tragedy- 5 students drown at military-style cam |
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| The five students were taking part in a so-called Marines Special Camp organized by a private organizer with no affiliation with the Marines Corps, along with 193 classmates from Kongju National University High School. |
No affiliation? Then what the bleep were they doing touting it as a Marine Corps program?
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| “With the establishment of a special investigation team,” Hwang Jun-hyeon, chief of the West Regional Headquarters of the Korea Coast Guard, told reporters during a press briefing yesterday, “we will get to the bottom of the accident.” |
Good on the Coast Guard. But the chief misspoke. It's not an accident. It's an "inevitable". It's inevitable that someone's going to get hurt or killed when people who don't have a clue as to what they're doing put those people in dangerous situations.
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The police investigating the accident said students were instructed not to wear life vests during the sea-water exercise.
It was also reported that local residents told the camp organizer not to proceed with programs because of poor weather. Instructors acknowledged they had been warned by the residents about potential risks, according to the investigators.
“I told the instructors they should move to another place because their location had safety risks,” said a Taean resident named Yun Hyun-geun.
Sea currents at the location are so strong in the rainy season that local residents refrain from swimming, he said.
It was also reported that the local community broadcast a warning at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, a half an hour before the accident, through speakers set up along the beach. It urged visitors on the beach to stay away from the surf as the tide was strong. |
See? Inevitable. And I say this as someone whose hometown is quite popular with tourists--not locals--for swimming in the dangerous surf, all the while ignoring the warning notices about how dangerous it is and to stay out of the dangerous surf.
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| Reportedly, the two instructors in charge of the 90 students at the beach did not take part in rescue efforts, presumably because they can’t swim. |
WTF?
I agree with the OP completely. Lots and lots of people need to see some serious prison time over this.
Last edited by CentralCali on Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
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optik404
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:12 am Post subject: |
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Two instructors to watch 90 students in the water and in this weather were having, is highly irresponsible.
Also, asking cause I have no idea, but is a one meter wave considered big? |
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War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:35 am Post subject: |
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| optik404 wrote: |
Two instructors to watch 90 students in the water and in this weather were having, is highly irresponsible.
Also, asking cause I have no idea, but is a one meter wave considered big? |
I am not making light of the situation. This is a terrible tragedy. However, something like this is MUCH less likely to happen if one knows how to swim, which many, many Koreans do not. They are taught to fear the water.
The water was up to their waists, so about .9 meters high. Add on a 1 meter wave, which, no, is not that big, and the water would barely be high enough to cover their heads. That depth of water is not something that most people drown in.
Learning how to swim is something all children should be taught. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:56 am Post subject: |
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The details in the Chosun are quite different
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/07/19/2013071901378.html
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Two high-schoolers who were taking part in a Marines boot camp on the west coast were killed after being swept away by strong waves, and three others remain missing. The two bodies were found on Friday morning.
Maritime police in Taean, South Chungcheong Province took the emergency call reporting the missing youngsters late Thursday afternoon and dispatched one helicopter, four patrol ships, one hovercraft and five rescue boats to search for them.
The youngsters were juniors at a high school in the province which had sent a total of 198 pupils to the camp. Six teachers were also there to guide the kids during the three-day training program.
Teachers and parents said around 20 of the students were on a boat and were ordered by a drill instructor to take off their life jackets and jump into the water. They were swept away by waves. |
I hope to hell the organizers are charged. |
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Gnawbert
Joined: 23 Oct 2007
Location: The Internet
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:01 am Post subject: |
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The numbers seem all weird. 2 instructors and 90 students? That's way too many students to deal with any sort of summer camp aquatic exercises.
However, a 1 meter wave killed them? I'm assuming that there was riptide or something, because there's no way a bunch of high school kids should've drowned because of a 1m wave, even if they were up to their waist. Something isn't adding up.
Edit: never mind, looks like the Chosun has better details. Sad, indeed. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:14 am Post subject: |
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| 90 students, 2 spectators. Those morons can't be counted as instructors for a water-based activity if they can't swim! |
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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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For those who think that you can't drown in waist deep water: do not under estimate the PANIC of someone who can't swim!
There is a reason why Dick Cheney loved water-boarding terrorist suspects. If you breath in even a drop of water through your nostril, you have to sneeze it out, but it's pretty hard when you're flailing in water.
Hence you can drown even in knee deep water wearing a May West and a tube, if you think swimming is all done with arms.  |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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There are plenty of "wanna-be" tough guys who can wear sunglasses, blow whistles, and look like big men in front of high school kids but when push comes to shove they're actually cowards. That's the case here. Kids don't know any better so they do what those losers tell them to do.
A wave can take you out into the sea and then the current works against you. The problems then becomes panic and eventually exhaustion.
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It was also reported that local residents told the camp organizer not to proceed with programs because of poor weather. Instructors acknowledged they had been warned by the residents about potential risks, according to the investigators.
“I told the instructors they should move to another place because their location had safety risks,” said a Taean resident named Yun Hyun-geun.
Sea currents at the location are so strong in the rainy season that local residents refrain from swimming, he said.
It was also reported that the local community broadcast a warning at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, a half an hour before the accident, through speakers set up along the beach. It urged visitors on the beach to stay away from the surf as the tide was strong.
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With those conditions, they're probably lucky more students didn't drown. |
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thisisausername
Joined: 28 May 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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I've never been able to figure out why so many Koreans can't swim. I assume the kids who drowned couldn't.
Back home, I don't even remember having one friend who couldn't swim after the age of 5. |
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newb
Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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It's not a matter of whether one can swim or not. It's a matter of whether one is trained to rescue or not. I'd advice any waygook to not attempt to rescue anyone drowning in water unless you've been trained to do so. I've seen lots of people try and ended up being victims themselves.
I'm sure the people who's been trained in water safety and rescue would know what I'm talking about. |
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sluggo832004
Joined: 04 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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Im not a violent person. But if i had a son or daughter who died cause of this stupidity Id hurt somebody. Never take off your life jacket if you cant swim. NEVER!!! I dont care who tells you to do it.
But the organizers just saw the kids as dollar signs and didnt care about the safety precautions. Thats why water activities are never a go unless its a extremely small class.
The two idiots who agreed to this job should have used better judgement.
At least the two idiots werent foreigners.
what a tragedy. |
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transmogrifier
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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| The school better get in a lot of ModEdit over this as well; it is their job to make sure they put their students in the care of people who know what the hell they are doing. |
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Lazio
Joined: 15 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| War Eagle wrote: |
Learning how to swim is something all children should be taught. |
Yepp, instead of spending a fortune on stupid hagwons where they learn little to nothing, they should be taught how to swim -something they can actually use. In a country surrounded by sea from 3 sides you would think that knowing how to swim is basic among the majority of the population but sadly it is not. |
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Leon
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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| As someone who worked for an organization that did similar exercises in Singapore I'm shocked by the numerous obvious mistakes. Any water activities means life jackets for all, and a rescue kayak or canoe in the water with a highly trained person in it with a rescue bag. 2 staff to 90 kids when it should be more like 1:10. Also the majority of staff members should require some sort of first aid training. They should know the site and respect weather conditions, and never for e kids to do something they don't want to, encouragement is great, telling kids who can't swim they have to take of their lifejackets and jump out of a boat is outraging negligence. This sort of thing really ought to be regulated to force at least some basic safety standards. |
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