Merged South Korean ferry sinks - hundreds missing

[catsmate]

A Sourth Korean passenger ferry travelling rom Incheon Port to the southern resort island of Jeju has sunk. 174 of the 462 people onboard have been rescued. Six people have been confirmed dead so far. Most of the missing are schoolchildren.

Rescue efforts are continuing though one of the senior officials in change has stated that "I'm afraid there's little chance for those trapped inside still to be alive". Efforts are being hampered by poor water visibility and strong currents.

Survivors have reported hearing bangs before the sinking and being told to remain in their cabins. Most of those rescued either jumped or had climbed to the ship's upperworks.

And it's April 16th............

BBC link.

 

[anglolawyer]

Korean shipping disaster

No thread on this?

Emergency services are continuing to search overnight for almost 300 people missing after a ferry carrying 462 people sank off South Korea.

Officials say 174 people were rescued from the ship, which was travelling from Incheon Port, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.

Emergency teams have been using floodlights and flares to search the vessel for passengers into the night.

At least six people are thought to have died, with dozens more injured.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Martin Patience
BBC News, Seoul
South Korean TV networks are constantly replaying dramatic footage of the rescue efforts. It shows an armada of small boats motoring right up beside the ferry, which listed heavily on its side before sinking.

What makes this accident even more distressing is the fact that among those on board were high school students on a trip to a holiday island.

Relatives and friends of those on board are posting on social media sites asking for any news or information about loved ones.

Dramatic rescue
It is not yet clear what caused the ship to list at a severe angle and flip over, leaving only a small part of its hull visible above water.

Rescue efforts are concentrated on the ship's wreckage, which sank in 30 metres of water. Many passengers are thought to be trapped inside.

 

[Slowvehicle]

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=9956384#post9956384

 

[RussDill]

What are the possibilities for what they hit? From what I can tell, they are no where near land. Also, the front of the boat looked to be intact. Could it have been another boat that is now also sunk? A submarine (North Korean, South Korean, Chinese, US, etc...)? A sea mine, maybe left over from the war? How big of an object would the boat have to of hit to make go over this fast?

Alternatively, could something on the boat exploded either intentionally or unintentionally? Or maybe just a failure of some structure within the boat?

 

[Tiktaalik]

I haven't heard a thing about what caused this ferry to sink. Did it hit something? Did something hit it? For it to sink that fast, doesn't there need to be a big hole? Something explode in the hold? What in the world?

 

[Skeptical Greg]

I'm curious as to what made it flip over ( bottom up ) before it sank ..

This is heartbreaking ..

 

[newyorkguy]

From the OP:

It is not yet clear what caused the ship to list at a severe angle and flip over, leaving only a small part of its hull visible above water.

 

[newyorkguy]

I'm not sure how reliable this is but there may possibly be some survivors still in the ferry:

Several people appear to have survived in an air pocket of a capsized South Korean ferry, the father of one of the school children aboard the boat told a Reuters reporter accompanying families out to the scene of the disaster on Thursday. "(The child) told me in the text message, 'I am alive, there are students alive, please save us quickly," the father said.

Link

 

[jasonpatterson]

I haven't heard a thing about what caused this ferry to sink. Did it hit something? Did something hit it? For it to sink that fast, doesn't there need to be a big hole? Something explode in the hold? What in the world?

The report I heard earlier said that it appeared that it hit something submerged before sinking. It's apparently not very deep in that location, so they suggested the sea floor or perhaps a pile of shipping containers that had fallen off of another vessel. I'm sure the specific cause will be found sooner or later.

The ferry was going fairly fast and so hitting much of anything just shredded its hull.

 

[Cain]

Well, it could've been worse: imagine if the victims were Americans.

 

[angrysoba]

I'm not sure how reliable this is but there may possibly be some survivors still in the ferry:



Link

Horrific story, and of course I hope there are other survivors but this seems very unlikely.


It is pretty shocking that the rescue services apparently underestimated the numbers of people on the ferry, but I don't know what they could have done to rescue more people.

 

[Puppycow]

What a horrible tragedy. I've been following it.

And it's April 16th............

Is there some significance to the date?

Could there still be people alive in air pockets inside?

 

[Puppycow]

I'm not sure how reliable this is but there may possibly be some survivors still in the ferry:



Link

Yeah, but that message was probably sent before it sunk unless cell phone signals can go through water.

From what I gather on the internet, cell phone signals can't go through more than a few millimeters of water.

 

[newyorkguy]

Yeah, but that message was probably sent before it sunk unless cell phone signals can go through water.

The text message was apparently sent well after the initial incident. If the survivor was in an air pocket the cell phone signal might not have to go through water, at least while part of the ferry was still above the water line. From the news photos I've seen on-line, the vessel rolled over in the water and was only partially submerged for several hours before going bottom up. Korean divers were unable to get into the vessel because of rough seas and the extreme danger.

The families of the passengers unaccounted have for have been extremely critical of the rescue efforts.

Angry shouts could be heard when Prime Minister Chung Hong-won visited a shelter where relatives of the missing passengers waited for news. Some yelled that the government should have sent more divers to search the wreckage. Link

 

[AdMan]

This looks to be a truly awful tragedy, with close to 300 people--many of them apparently high school kids--still missing.

Those text messages are heart breaking. Here's hoping that somehow many of those missing are somehow still alive and are rescued, though it's looking grim.

 

[RussDill]

I hate to be a nay-sayer, but with victims family throwing water on officials because they are upset about the pace of the rescue operation, it would not take a leap for some of the parents to fake text messages in order to push officials to speed the rescue operation.

ETA: This would be text messages after the sinking, not during.

 

[angrysoba]

I hate to be a nay-sayer, but with victims family throwing water on officials because they are upset about the pace of the rescue operation, it would not take a leap for some of the parents to fake text messages in order to push officials to speed the rescue operation.

ETA: This would be text messages after the sinking, not during.

Or even just saying they have text messages in order to persuade the rescuers to do all they can. Although we don't know that.

 

[AdMan]

I hate to be a nay-sayer, but with victims family throwing water on officials because they are upset about the pace of the rescue operation, it would not take a leap for some of the parents to fake text messages in order to push officials to speed the rescue operation.

ETA: This would be text messages after the sinking, not during.

Sounds cynical, but I suppose I would understand the reasons behind it if this happened on occasion.

 

[catsmate]

What are the possibilities for what they hit? From what I can tell, they are no where near land. Also, the front of the boat looked to be intact. Could it have been another boat that is now also sunk? A submarine (North Korean, South Korean, Chinese, US, etc...)? A sea mine, maybe left over from the war? How big of an object would the boat have to of hit to make go over this fast?

Alternatively, could something on the boat exploded either intentionally or unintentionally? Or maybe just a failure of some structure within the boat?

I haven't heard a thing about what caused this ferry to sink. Did it hit something? Did something hit it? For it to sink that fast, doesn't there need to be a big hole? Something explode in the hold? What in the world?

I think at the moment, given the lack of other information, that the ship struck something under the waterline. It may have been an natural rock formation or perhaps floating debris. That part of the worlds has a lot of shipping and stuff is lost pretty frequently.
A glancing impact could have caused sufficient damage to the hull, on one side, to have led to a rapid capsize and sinking, depending on the ship's speed when it hit. Similar to the Titanic scenario.

I'm doubtful about a mine, the accounts don't suggest a large explosion. An accidental hit on a sub is also unlikely and would almost certainly have left a sunken sub to be found.
A structural failure seems less likely than an impact but I don't know enough to offer a proper opinion, I just dabble in naval architecture.

Is there some significance to the date?

Sort of to me. When I was writing a history article (of which this thread is most of) I opened with the line "April the fourteenth might just be a bad day for ships" which led to several letters correcting me. April the 16th is, statistically, a bad day for shipping disasters with the loss of the Lampo, Grandcamp, Powhattan, HMS Affray, Goya, HMS Mohawk amongst others.

Could there still be people alive in air pockets inside?

Probably not many now.

 

[Greedo]

Or even just saying they have text messages in order to persuade the rescuers to do all they can. Although we don't know that.

Why text messages, though? I mean, in that situation, wouldn't you naturally call your loved ones? Seems odd, I'm leaning towards this too.

ETA: and wouldn't you first try to notify emergency services, then loved ones?