Jeju Islands: Hundreds of tourists fighting to survive sinking ferry nightmare

Resucue
Resucue
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

471 ferry passengers, mostly tourist including high school students on school trips are fighting for their life off the coast of South Korea’s tourism abd holiday paradise Jeju Islands.

471 ferry passengers, mostly tourist including high school students on school trips are fighting for their life off the coast of South Korea’s tourism abd holiday paradise Jeju Islands. One passenger already died according to unconfirmed media reports. South Korea President Park Geun-hye orders all available vessels, special operations divers to rescue of the sinking ferry.

Jeju Island pulls in vacationers and honeymooners by the thousands.

April to June is prime time for school trips. A lot of students are on field trips from April to June, according to the Korea Tourist Organization’s Jeju branch.

A Jeju passenger ferry sent out a distress signals. According to the South Koreaโ€™s coast guard, the vessel is slowly sinking.

Local media is reporting that there are 324 students and 10 school employees are aboard the ship.

Jeju Province) is one of the nine provinces of South Korea. The province is situated on and coterminous with the nation’s largest island of Jeju (also Jejudo; see Naming below), formerly transliterated as Cheju, Cheju Do, etc., or known as Quelpart to Europeans. The island lies in the Korea Strait, southwest of South Jeolla Province, of which it was a part before it became a separate province in 1946. Its capital is Jeju City.

The coast guard official, speaking from Mokpo city on the southwest coast, said a rescue operation had been launched but could provide no further details. According to latest reports first responders and rescuers were able to remove 190 passengers from the sinking ferry and took them to a nearby island. Shortly after the rescue, the rest of the passengers began jumping into the water after being told that the vessel was about to sink.

The ferry, which also carries cars and trucks, has a capacity of about 900 people.

A passenger on board told YTN television a rescue helicopter had reached the vessel. The unidentified passenger, who sounded calm, said those on board were in their cabins but were having trouble keeping their balance.

The reason for the ship’s difficulties was not immediately clear. Heavy fog had set in overnight in the area, leading to cancellations of many passenger ferry services to islands.

However, news reports said visibility in the area was fair.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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