Heartbreaking video shows students as ferry sinks

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By FOSTER KLUG and HYUNG-JIN KIM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Soon after the ferry begins to tilt, nervous laughter can be heard from the high school students huddled below deck. In video clips from the cellphone of a victim of a disaster that has shaken South Korea, the teenagers talk of taking selfies, wonder if they'll make the news and discuss posting about the excitement later on Facebook.

The fear in the cabin builds as the listing becomes worse. Some say they feel dizzy, that their legs are shaking. One student can be seen walking with his hands braced against the wall for balance.

"Am I really going to die?" a student asks at 8:53 a.m. April 16, less than two minutes into the video and two minutes before a crew member on the bridge made the ferry's first distress call.

Students ask whether the ship will sink and where their teachers are. "What's the captain doing?"

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140501/skorea-ship_sinks-2cbd3e3240.html

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A woman ties a yellow ribbon after paying tribute to the victims of the sunken ferry Sewol as yellow ribbons are displayed as a sign of hope for the safe return of missing passengers at a group memorial altar in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 1, 2014. An off-duty captain of the sunken South Korean ferry has told investigators that the owners ignored his warning that the ship shouldn't carry too much cargo because it wasn't very stable, a prosecutor said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

[AtheistCrusader]

1. So sad. There's a chapter in the book The Outlaw Sea that details a similar sinking, the MS Estonia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia

That instruction to stay put probably killed a lot of people. Once a ship like that lists, you cannot transverse stairwells. You get trapped. Like a rat in a bucket.


Of the people who survived the Estonia sinking (Less than 1hr from distress, to the bottom of the Baltic Sea), the people who survived were, young adults, single, and mostly naked/nightclothes.

People who stopped to put on shoes, Pants, People who stopped to help a spouse, To help children, To help anyone... people who stopped to listen to instructions on the intercom... Did not make it.

The survivors were almost entirely people who hauled ass directly to the outside deck.


You cannot believe the crews on these ships. When shit goes wrong, they may have some training, they may have some book knowledge, but most captains even, have never been through an event like that. They cannot and do not grok the reality of it. (In fact, most surviving captians of such wrecks find their careers over, so there is no built experience here.) They know about as much as you know. They have, within this context, about as much experience as you have.

Get floation, get to the outside deck, or if heavy seas, to a place where you CAN get outside without getting trapped, even if the ship lists to 90 degrees or more. Your life may depend on it.

[passiveporcupine]

2. Never thought about the tilted staircases

But yes, that's a very good point...once too far tilted, you are trying to scale a blank wall and not many people would be able to make it up. They are not staying down there because they want to, but because they cannot get out.

I am not going to watch the video...cannot handle that.

[hamsterjill]

3. There simply are not enough words.

My heart breaks along with the rest of the world. So very sad.

[rug]

4. The footage starts at 1:07 if you can bear to watch.

[Blue_Tires]

5. A colossal failure from every angle

gross negligence everywhere: ignored warnings about the recent modifications making the ship top heavy, inexperienced crew members at the helm, allegedly overloaded cargo in the name of profits, and a captain paralyzed by indecision until the moment he decides to save his own ass...

And even with all that, there's still NO reason at all why 95% of them or more shouldn't have easily survived...I was absolutely shocked to see this took place in broad daylight on calm seas, and with help arriving relatively quickly...

[uppityperson]

6. a clip of the video is here, faces are blocked off but you can see the floor. They stayed in their

cabins. fuck

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/southkorea/10802026/South-Korea-ferry-disaster-father-releases-footage-taken-on-dead-sons-mobile-phone-as-vessel-sank.html

Looks like this is the whole thing, AP youtube site.

There are more on youtube with captions.