Almost 300 people were missing after a ferry capsized off South Korea on Wednesday, despite frantic rescue efforts involving coastguard vessels, fishing boats and helicopters, in what could be the country’s biggest maritime disaster in over 20 years.
The ferry was carrying 459 people, of whom 164 have been rescued, coastguard officials said.
It was not immediately clear why the Sewol ferry listed heavily on to its side and capsized in apparently calm conditions off South Korea’s southwest coast, but some survivors spoke of what appeared to be an impact prior to the accident.
“It was fine. Then the ship went ‘boom’ and there was a noise of cargo falling,” said Cha Eun-ok, who said she was on the deck of the ferry taking photographs at the time.
Most of the passengers on board the ferry appeared to have been teenagers and their teachers from a high school in Seoul who were on a field trip to Jeju island, about 100 km (60 miles) south of the Korean peninsula.
