Dozens of boats, helicopters and divers scrambled Wednesday to rescue more than 470 people, including 325 high school students on a school trip, after a ferry sank off South Korea's southern coast, killing at least two and injuring 14, officials said, according to Reuters.
The ferry with 476 people aboard was sailing to the southern island of Jeju when it sent a distress call Wednesday morning after it began leaning to one side, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, Reuters reported.
Two coast guard officers said that a 27-year-old woman named Park Ji-yeong and another unidentified person had died, according to Reuters.
Local media ran photos showing the partially submerged ferry tilting dramatically as helicopters flew overhead and rescue vessels and a small boat covered with an orange tarp over it floated nearby, Reuters reported.
Passenger Kim Seong-mok, speaking from a nearby island after his rescue, told YTN that he was "certain" people were trapped inside the ship as water quickly filled up inside and the severe tilt of the ferry kept them from reaching the exits, according to Reuters.
The water temperature in the area was about 12 degrees Celsius, cold enough to cause signs of hypothermia after about 90 minutes or 2 hours, according to an emergency official who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules, Reuters reported.
The students are from a high school in Ansan city near Seoul and were on their way to Jeju island for a four-day trip, according to a relief team set up by Gyeonggi Province, which governs the city, according to Reuters. The ferry left Incheon port, just west of Seoul, on Tuesday evening, according to the state-run Busan Regional Maritime Affairs & Port Administration.
