BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese embassy in Seoul has confirmed two Chinese citizens were on board the ferry. Staff from the embassy has visited their families. Of the ferry’s 475 passengers, 9 have been confirmed dead. 179 people have been rescued and 287 are still missing.
South Korean passenger ship "Sewol" was on an overnight journey to the tourist island of Jeju, when it overturned and sank off the coast of Jindo Island on Wednesday morning.
The country’s President Park Geun-Hye has paid a visit to the site where the ferry sank. She asked rescue workers to do their best to find those still missing. She has also met with the families of the passengers, 325 of which were high school students taking part in a four-day field trip. The search operations for survivors resumed overnight after being halted earlier due to bad weather.
The South Korean Coast Guard says 20 divers tried to get inside the ship’s wreckage but couldn’t because of the current. Two rescue vessels have also arrived at the site with more than 400 rescuers searching nearby waters overnight and into Thursday morning. The US Seventh Fleet said its warship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, which has helicopters on board, was on its way to the scene to help.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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