Passengers sent text messages to loved ones for help

SEOUL — Passengers on board the ferry that sank off South Korea’s southern coast, possibly with scores of people trapped inside, had sent text messages and made phone calls to loved ones, telling them they were getting desperate for help.

One mother shared a text message she said her son apparently sent hours after the ferry sank on Wednesday. “Can’t see a thing, it’s totally dark,” the message said. “We are not dead yet, so please send along this message.”

The passengers, who included more than 300 second-year students at Danwon High School in Ansan, which is near Seoul, had faced a terrifying choice as the vessel rolled: Obey commands announced over loudspeakers to stay in place, or don life vests and jump into the chilly ocean water.

“Kids were forced to stay put, so only some of those who moved survived,” one survivor told state broadcaster YTN.

Kim Woong-ki, a 16-year-old student, pleaded with his brother to help in a text sent after the ship listed suddenly to one side. “My room is tilting about 45 degrees. My mobile is not working very well,” he texted. His brother attempted to reassure him, saying: “So don’t panic and just do whatever you’re told to do. Then you’ll be fine.”

In a text message she sent to her father, Shin Seong-hee, a Danwon student, said she had been told by the ship’s crew that “it was more dangerous to move”. Her father texted back: “I know the rescuers are coming, but why don’t you try to come outside?”

“I can’t because the ship is tilting too much,” she said, in a text that was shown to a reporter by her sister, Ms Shin Seong-ah, yesterday. Shin Seong-hee has not been heard from since.

Another student, Park Ji-yoon, had not wanted to go on the school trip to the South Korean resort island of Jeju. She hated riding on ferries.

When she called her grandmother more than 12 hours after the Sewol ferry had departed, the girl’s voice was shaking. The two had spoken 90 minutes earlier, said Ms Kim Ok Young, 74.

This call was different.

“Grandma, I think I’m going to die,” Ji-yoon said. “The ship is sinking and I’m holding on to the rail.” Then, the phone disconnected.

Ms Kim reached her granddaughter one more time, she said. In that call, Ji-yoon said only, “I have to go,” before the phone cut off. At 10.09am on Wednesday, she sent a text containing a single Korean character, one that conveyed no meaning. Since then, there has been nothing from her.

“Two days before she was heading off on this trip, she told us that she didn’t want to go because she didn’t want to travel on a ferry,” said Ms Kim, who had raised the girl. “We told her that she would regret it if she didn’t go. Now, we regret it. We shouldn’t have made her go.” AGENCIES