2 Filipinos safe after Korean ferry disaster

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2 Filipinos safe after Korean ferry disaster

YONHAP

Officials say 300 of 475 passengers of the sunken South Korean ferry remain missing. Chances of finding them alive have dimmed.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines confirmed on Thursday, April 17, that authorities rescued two Filipinos from a South Korean ferry that sank with 475 passengers, around 300 of whom remain missing.

“The two Filipinos who are working in the vessel are safe and have been brought to the hospital for treatment,” Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Charles Jose said in a text message.

The Philippine Embassy in Seoul also confirmed “that there are no Filipino casualties” after the Korean vessel Sewol sank on Wednesday, April 16, according to Jose.

Speaking to Bombo Radyo in the Philippines, Bobby dela Cruz of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul described the two Filipinos as entertainers.

On Thursday, rescuers worked frantically to find around 300 missing people, mostly schoolchildren.

Prospects of pulling survivors from the submerged vessel, however, have dimmed. Emotions have then boiled over among anguished relatives.

Worsening weather fueled the somber mood, with persistent rain and choppy seas further hindering dive teams already struggling with low visibility and strong currents.

Rescue chances ‘close to zero’

DISTRESSED RELATIVES. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye (front center) talks with relatives of missing passengers of a Sewol ferry that sank in waters off Jindo. Photo by EPA

Nine people were confirmed dead. But with every hour that passed, fears mounted for the 287 still unaccounted for after the multi-deck vessel with 475 on board suddenly listed, capsized, and then sank within the space of 90 minutes on Wednesday morning.

“Honestly, I think the chances of finding anyone alive are close to zero,” a coast guard official told an AFP journalist on one of the boats at the site.

The coastguard said more than 500 divers, 169 vessels, and 29 aircraft were now involved in the rescue operation.

But distraught relatives gathered in a gymnasium on nearby Jindo island insisted more should be done, and vented their frustration when President Park Geun-Hye came to inspect the rescue effort.

“What are you doing when people are dying! Time is running out!” one woman screamed as Park tried to address the volatile crowd with her security detail standing by nervously.

A total of 375 high school students were on board, travelling with their teachers to the popular island resort of Jeju.

When South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won visited the gymnasium in Jindo earlier in the day, he was jostled and shouted at, and water bottles were thrown. – with reports from Paterno Esmaquel II and Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com

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