Authorities in South Korea say there is almost zero chance that any of the almost 300 mostly schoolchildren still missing after a ferry sank on its way to a holiday island will be found alive.
Rescuers were on Thursday (local weather) working frantically to find survivors from the submerged vessel as emotions boiled over among anguished relatives of the missing.
Worsening weather fuelled the sombre mood, with persistent rain and choppy seas further hindering dive teams already struggling with low visibility and strong currents.
Nine people were confirmed dead, but with every hour that passed fears mounted for the 287 still unaccounted for after the multi-deck vessel with 475 on board suddenly listed, capsized and then sank within the space of 90 minutes on Wednesday morning.
"Honestly, I think the chances of finding anyone alive are close to zero," a coastguard official said on Thursday.
- PHOTOS: Rescuers work around the clock
The coastguard said more than 500 divers, 169 vessels and 29 aircraft were involved in the rescue operation.
But distraught relatives, gathered in a gymnasium on nearby Jindo island, insisted more should be done and vented their frustration when President Park Geun-Hye came to inspect the rescue effort.
"What are you doing when people are dying! Time is running out!" one woman screamed as Park tried to address the volatile crowd with her security detail standing by nervously.
The ferry was carrying 375 high school students to the popular island resort of Jeju.
When South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won visited the gymnasium in Jindo earlier in the day, he was jostled and shouted at, and water bottles were thrown.
"Don't run away, Mr. Prime Minister!" one mother said, blocking Chung as he tried to leave. "Please tell us what you're planning to do."
The coastguard said 179 people had been rescued - a figure that has remained constant since the evening before, further undermining hopes of more survivors being found.
The tragedy has stunned a country whose rapid modernisation was thought to have consigned such large-scale accidents to the past.
If the missing are confirmed dead it would become one of South Korea's worst peacetime disasters - all the more traumatic for the number of children involved.
It was still unclear what caused the 6,825-tonne Sewol to sink.
Numerous passengers spoke of a loud thud and the vessel coming to an abrupt, shuddering halt - suggesting it had run aground or hit a submerged object.
But the captain, Lee Joon-Seok, who survived and was being questioned by investigators, insisted it had not hit any rocks.
Other experts suggested the ferry cargo, which included 150 cars, might have suddenly shifted, irretrievably destabilising the vessel.
Distressing mobile phone footage taken by one survivor emerged Thursday, showing the panic on board with one woman desperately screaming "The water's coming, the water's coming."
There was growing public anger over multiple survivor testimony that passengers had been ordered to stay in their seats and cabins when the ferry first foundered.
"We must have waited 30 to 40 minutes after the crew told us to stay put," said one rescued student.
"Then everything tilted over and everyone started screaming and scrambling to get out," he said.
Rescuers said they feared hundreds had been unable to escape the vessel because of the speed with which it turned over.
Regional coastguard commander Kim Soo-Hyun told a press briefing that "investigations were underway" into reports that the captain and crew were among the first to leave the stricken vessel.
Among the nine confirmed dead were three students, one teacher and a crew member.
AFP
source: newshub archive
