Hundreds of South Korean High School Students Trapped on Sunken Ferry - Nana Johnson 2nd

I’ve been wanting to write about this, but now that the US Navy is involved, it relates to American current events. In case you haven’t heard about the South Korean Ferry incident, here you go:

A South Korean ferry heading to Jeju Island on April 16, 2014 began to flip on its side and sink. A total of 476 people were on board, most of them high school students on a school trip. Currently there are 104 confirmed deaths, 174 rescued, and 198 still missing. Current methods of rescuing the passengers are: pumping oxygen into the boat and using cranes to pull the sunken ferry. They say it may take up to 1-2 months to pull out the ferry. Hours before students were rescued, they sent texts back home to family telling them that they love them incase they didn't make it back home alive. The captain had the passengers on standby and told them not to evacuate immediately. That resulted in most people getting trapped on board as the ship tilted even further, making it impossible to get out of their rooms. Furthermore, he and some of the crew were some of the first rescued while leaving hundreds of passengers helpless onboard. The captain and some of his crew were arrested on various accounts of murder. On Friday, the Vice Principal of the high school was found hanged from a tree on an island near the wreckage. In his wallet, they found a suicide note saying that he was sorry he survived by himself. The US Navy began to help in the search by sending helicopters and a salvage ship. The salvage ship may provide a lot of aid that would've been more helpful earlier. 

Analysis: This tragic news effected me so much more than a lot of things I hear on the news. I think a big reason for that is the fact that most of the people aboard that ship were 16-17 year old high school students, just like me. A few of the passengers who died actually gave their life jackets to other students to help them survive. The story of how they suffered and were abandoned by the captain made me so sad. The current weather conditions made the recovery much harder than anticipated. Divers are having a hard time rescuing them because of the high tides. Families are in despair because they feel that they can no longer trust the government and the local media. They are also being asked to take DNA tests. I can’t even imagine not knowing if my child is one of the few unidentified bodies. Also not knowing if any of the members on board are still alive thanks to air pockets. There are so few answers with fading hope at this point. People from around the world are giving messages of prayers at #PrayForSouthKorea. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/world/asia/korean-ferry.html?_r=0

http://gantdaily.com/2014/04/21/u-s-navy-offers-help-to-salvage-sunken-korean-ferry/