tragedy
An old man seriously injured in an accident in China was dumped by the ambulance after they confirmed he was dead.
A year ago Thursday, a ferry carrying 476 people sank off the coast of Incheon, near Seoul, South Korea, during a routine trip to the island of Jeju.
In all, 295 people aboard the Sewol perished, many of them high-school students and teachers who were on a field trip. Many of the bodies still have not been recovered.
Since the disaster, controversy has centered on the South Korean government’s response. Some argue the government attempted to whitewash its accountability in the incident; others have called for a thorough investigation.
Parents of the students who died in the catastrophe are still reeling from their loss a year later. Many still keep their children’s rooms intact to keep their memories alive. Reuters photographer Kim Hong-Ji visited their homes and documented the families and the rooms.
Karma struck China’s Wuhu City last weekend as a man who made the fatal decision to flee the scene of an accident later discovered that his victim was his own mother. Sadly, by the time he had made the discovery, his mother had already succumbed to her injuries.
After a tragedy like the April 16 sinking of the South Korean ferry Sewol, many are left wondering how to appropriately commemorate the lives lost without forgetting the awful truth of the actual incident. Last week a South Korean newspaper revealed that a two-hour documentary about the accident is being planned to be released next year to coincide with the one-year anniversary. The film’s backers are relying solely on donations and are seeking just 400 million won (US$392,000) to finance the low-budget project. And with the entire country paying extremely close attention to every tragic detail to come out of the investigations surrounding the accident, this film is destined to be an instant hit in Korean movie theaters.
After the initial dust settles on the scene of a tragedy there comes the more protracted, but often less news-worthy, battle for answers and accountability. From the outset Korean authorities have come under fire from the public as well as government officials who claim that the immediate response to the incident was not good enough, and the accusations of incompetence continue to mount.
During a meeting in a gymnasium on Jindo Island in South Korea between Coast Guard officials and families of those on board the recently capsized ferry, one family member brought up a circulating rumor that the South Korean government had refused search and rescue support from neighboring Japan.
Rescue efforts for the passengers of Korean passenger ferry the Sewol that sank in the Yellow Sea off the tip of the South Korean peninsula on the 16th are still ongoing, and more information continues to emerge about what exactly went on on board the stricken vessel. There has been an outpouring of shock and anger from the families of the passengers after learning that the captain and some of his crew were among the first to abandon the sinking ship, and many are now questioning what he was doing in command of the huge vessel in the first place.