Korean Job Discussion Forums

[le-paul]

A ferry with about 350 people on board is sinking off the south-west coast of South Korea, coast guard officials have said.

Yonhap news agency said most of the passengers were secondary school students on their way to the southern resort island of Jeju.

It said the ferry had sent out a distress signal about 20km (12 miles) off the island of Byungpoong.

Coastguard officials say a rescue operation has been launched.

The ferry is reported to be listing at a severe angle.

"The ship is taking in water and sinking," a coastguard spokesman told AFP news agency by phone.

"We have coastguard vessels, commercial ships in the area, as well as helicopters all engaged in the rescue operation," the spokesman said.

One passenger told the YTN news channel: "We heard a big thumping sound and the boat stopped.

"The boat is tilting and we have to hold on to something to stay seated," the passenger said.

BBC © 2014

[Lucas]

With the ocean cadet thing (last year?) now this, it might be a good time to open up a swimming hagwon (with English).

Hopefully everyone is okay!

[le-paul]

[Chaparrastique]

Rescued 190 so far.

looks like they're in shallow water.

http://media.daum.net/photo/82304#20140416103011667

[Lucas]

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/15/world/asia/south-korea-sinking-ship-students/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

At least 1 dead so far.

[goat]

Pilot error?

[Otter]

I hope they manage to rescue some more people and do it quickly.

The water is cold there at about 12 degrees C. If anything people trapped inside the boat have a much higher chance of survival than anyone in the water. Any temperature under 15 C is likely to cause cold water shock in even strong swimmers after immersion for a period of 90 minutes or so without proper equipment for cold water. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to hypothermia. .

There is also a very real risk of secondary drowning especially as the kids were apprently told to 'jump into the water'. That is pretty poor advice and pretty disorganised. Didn't they have any life boats or rafts to seek refuge on?

I sadly think that there will be a lot more deaths than the couple we've heard about. I hope there won't be, but it's a messy business

[Mikejelai]

I wonder who will be blamed this time??

[Mikejelai]

Did the two Indian ship captains ever get out of prison after being remmed by the Samsung ship??

[PatrickGHBusan]

300 still missing, mostly High School students that were on a school trip to Jeju.


164 people confirmed rescued out of 460+ (BBC report)

Perhaps, just perhaps, people should hold off joking about this...

[Malislamusrex]

290 people be missing for 12 hours..... News suggests that they are probably trapped, tragic.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Horrible.

I can only imagine what the parents are going through now

[actionjackson]

I was just watching the Korean news and they're saying the boat was 5km off it's normal course and hit a giant rock under the water.

[wanderkind]

Does anyone know what school the kids are from? Were they actually from Incheon, or did they just leave from there?

Jeez. That orientation gym collapse just a couple months ago, now a whole school on a trip? Kids can't catch a break.

[EZE]