South Korea has dispatched coastguard vessels to rescue 450 passengers mostly high-school students on a ferry sinking off the southern coast. Courtesy: Sky News
GRAVE fears are held for almost 300 passengers after a ferry carrying mostly high school students sank en route to a holiday island in South Korea.
South Korean rescue teams, as well as elite navy SEAL divers, were on Wednesday night working frantically under floodlights to find 291 people "unaccounted for" after the ferry sank with 459 people on board.
Authorities said 164 people had been rescued, with four confirmed deaths including a female crew member and a student. The death toll, however, was expected to rise.
Search and rescue ... The South Korea Coast guard look for survivors after a ferry capsized en route to Jeju Island. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
Dramatic television footage showed terrified passengers wearing life jackets clambering into inflatable boats as water lapped over the rails of the vessel as it sank 20 kilometres off the southern island of Byungpoong.
Some could be seen sliding down the steeply inclined side of the ferry and into the water, as rescuers, including the crew of what appeared to be a small fishing boat, pulled them to safety.
Saving lives ... South Korea Coast Guard members rescuing some of the passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry sinking on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. Source: AFP
The 6825-tonne Sewol had listed violently, before it capsised and finally sank - all within two hours of sending a distress signal at 9am (10am AEST).
"I'm afraid there's little chance for those trapped inside still to be alive," one senior rescue team official, Cho Yang-Bok, told YTN television as teams of divers struggled to access the submerged, multi-storey ferry.
Taken to safety ... a rescued girl being brought onto land in Jindo. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
As night fell the coastguard said the rescue operation was continuing using floodlights and underwater flares.
Several rescued passengers said they had initially been ordered to stay in their seats, but then the ferry suddenly listed to one side, triggering panic.
Survivors ... passengers wrapped in blankets are brought onto land in Jindo after a South Korean ferry capsized on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. Picture: AFP PHOTO/YONHAP Source: AFP
"The crew kept telling us not to move," one male survivor told the YTN news channel.
"Then it suddenly shifted over and people slid to one side and it became very difficult to get out," he added.
Taking on water ... the ferry capsized about 20km off the island of Byungpoong in Jindo. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
Of the 429 passengers on board the ferry bound for the popular southern resort island of Jeju, more than 300 were students travelling with 14 teachers from a high school in Ansan just south of Seoul.
Among those confirmed as rescued, 78 were students.
Grim search ... the ferry was carrying 477 people when it capsized. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
"I feel so pained to see students on a school trip ... face such a tragic accident. I want you to pour all your energy into this mission," President Park Geun-Hye said on a visit to the main disaster agency situation room in Seoul.
Many of the survivors were plucked from the water by fishing and other commercial vessels who were first on the scene before a flotilla of coastguard and navy ships arrived, backed by more than a dozen helicopters.
Help on its way ... helicopters heading to aid passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry sinking. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
Lee said 178 divers, including a team of South Korean navy SEALS, were working at the site, but low visibility and strong currents were hampering their efforts.
The US 7th Fleet sent an amphibious assault ship on patrol in the area to help.
Frantic rescue ... South Korean coast guard officers rescue passengers from a sinking ferry off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, South Korea. Source: AP
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, although rescued passengers reported the ferry coming to a sudden, shuddering halt - indicating it may have run aground.
The weather was described as fine with moderate winds and sea swell.
Moving to safety ... passengers wrapped in blankets being brought onto land in Jindo. Picture: Yonhap Source: AFP
Rescue underway ... a helicopter rescuing some of the passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry sinking. Source: AFP
There are faster ways to get to Jeju, but some people take the ferry from Incheon because it is cheaper than flying. Many South Korean high schools organise trips for students in their first or second years. The students on the ferry were in their second year, which would make most of them 16 or 17.
At the high school, students were sent home and parents gathered for news about the ferry.
Park Ji-hee, a first-year student, said she saw about a dozen parents crying at the school entrance and many cars and taxis gathered at the gate as she left in the morning.
She said some students in her classroom began to cry as they saw the news on their handsets. Teachers tried to soothe them, saying that the students on the ferry would be fine.
The Maritime Ministry said the two previous deadliest ferry disasters were in 1970 when 323 people drowned and in 1993 when 292 people died.
Clinging to the side hoping to be rescued ... South Korea Coast Guard members in helicopters trying to rescue some of the 477 passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry that capsized on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. Source: AFP
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