'Save us!

I think we're sinking' - missing ferry boy

T U E S D AY 22 APRIL 2014 The first distress call from the stricken So th !orean ferr" that sank on #ednesda" $as made %" a %o" to a fire station& min tes after the 'essel %e(an to (o do$n)

The call was forwarded to the coastguard and was followed by about 20 others by phone from children to the fire brigade, a fire station officer said. The Sewol ferry sank on a routine trip south from the port of Incheon to the traditional honeymoon island of Jeju. f the !"# passengers and crew on board, $$% were children and teachers on a high school outing. & total of '0! people are now known to ha(e died, but another '%) are missing, presumed trapped inside the (essel. *I think it*s sinkin(* The boy who made the call, with the family name of *hoi, is among the

missing. +is (oice was shaking and sounded urgent, a fire officer told ,-* T.. It took a while to identify the ship as the Sewol. /Sa(e us0 1e2re on a ship and I think it2s sinking,/ 3onhap news agency 4uoted him as saying. The fire station official asked him to switch the phone to the captain, and the boy replied5 /6o you mean teacher7/ The pronunciation of the words for /captain/ and /teacher/ is similar in 8orean. *Act of m rder* Se(eral crew members, including the captain, left the ferry as it was sinking, witnesses ha(e said, after passengers were told to stay in their cabins. 9resident 9ark :eun;hye said on ,onday that instruction was tantamount to an /act of murder/. ,any of the children did not 4uestion their elders, as is customary in hierarchical 8orean society.

9ublic broadcaster 8-S, 4uoting transcripts of the con(ersation between the crew and sea traffic control, said the passengers were told repeatedly to stay put. <or half an hour, the crew on the third deck kept asking the bridge by walkie;talkie whether or not they should make the order to abandon ship, 8-S said. =o one answered. Life%oats n Tuesday, a crew member said the crew tried to launch lifeboats, but could not get near because of the tilt of the ship. =ews reports said he was a second mate but did not pro(ide his name. +e was one of four who ha(e been detained and charged with negligence. *aptain of the ship >ee Joon;seok, #%, was not on the bridge when the ship turned. =a(igation was in the hands of a 2#;year;old third mate who was in charge for the first time on that part of the journey, according to crew members. The go(ernment on Tuesday released a timeline of the ferry2s last minutes,

stable and afloat. It made its scheduled turn en route to Jeju at ).!%am. and started listing within a minute. -y ).??am it was drifting back on itself and keeling to port. ,r Joon;seok, seen on tele(ision with his head lowered and co(ered, told reporters soon after the sinking he feared passengers would be swept away by the ferocious currents if they abandoned ship. +e has not e@plained why he left the (essel. In a confused e@change between the sinking Sewol and maritime traffic control released by the go(ernment, the crew said the ship was listing to port. /,ake passengers wear life jackets and get ready in case you need to abandon ship,/ traffic control said. The Sewol answered5 /It2s difficult for the passengers to mo(e now./