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          Parents of Disaster Ferry Passengers Lash Out at Authorities

   by Daniel Schearf

   Relatives of passengers on a sunken South Korean ferry have lashed out
   at authorities after they failed for a fourth day to enter the vessel.
   Twenty-nine bodies have been recovered from the water but some 270
   remain trapped on board.
   A father cries out in desperation and anger.
   At Jindo stadium, hundreds of relatives of passengers on the capsized
   ferry wait for a fourth day, hoping for good news.
   But Coast Guard Deputy Chief Choi Sang-hwan says rescue divers failed
   once again to reach those on board, most of them high school students.
   "Because the water is too strong so the divers cannot get into the
   ship. But, we are doing our best," he said.
   Exhausted and incensed at the lack of progress, one father tries to
   attack the officers.
   South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-won and the Coast Guard chief
   are leading the operation.
   Scores of rescue aircraft and boats are working with hundreds of rescue
   divers, but their efforts so far do little to comfort the parents.
   A mother of one of the missing grabs the microphone.
   "Bring the captain here and then kill him in the water! And, bring back
   our children!" she said.
   The cause of the sinking is still being investigated, but the captain,
   Lee Joon-seok, and some crew members were arrested and face charges of
   negligence.
   South Korean media reports say the captain was one of the first to
   abandon ship and told passengers not to move.
   "At the time, the current was very strong, temperature of the ocean
   water was cold, and I thought that if people left the ferry without
   [proper] judgement, if they were not wearing a life jacket, and even if
   they were, they would drift away and face many other difficulties,"
   said Lee Joon-seok. "The rescue boats had not arrived yet, nor were
   there any civilian fishing ships other boats near by at that time.
   Relatives of the missing grouped up to give DNA samples to identify
   victims in a grim reminder that the body count in this tragedy will
   only rise.
   But some, still holding out hope, refuse, asking how it would help save
   their children.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/parents-of-disaster-ferry-passengers-
   lash-out-at-authorities/1896940.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/parents-of-disaster-ferry-passengers-lash-out-at-authorities/1896940.html