ANSAN, South Korea —Wednesday, more than 70 teenagers who survived a ferry sinking walked to their first classes since the April disaster.
Some of the 73 students, wearing white and black uniforms and carrying book bags, bowed their heads as they cried and walked slowly from a bus to the school entrance. They still remembered the April 16 sinking, which left more than 300 people dead or missing. Of the 325 students on a class trip to the southern holiday island of Jeju, 75 were rescued, 245 died and five are still missing.
The 15 crew members responsible for navigating the Sewol ferry face charges for failing to perform their duties to rescue passengers. Prosecutors say they abandoned the ship even though they knew passengers would be trapped and killed when the ferry sank. Many South Koreans also fault the government, the coast guard and even society for failing the victims.
“We ask for a thorough investigation to find out why our friends and teachers had to become victims and why the rescue efforts didn’t proceed properly and led to more victims,” one of the surviving students, Shin Young-jin, said in an emotional address.
Many South Koreans are now questioning the country’s history of ignoring safety issues as it pursued rapid economic development. The government of President Park Geun-hye, has been criticized that it should have done more before the sinking on safety and monitoring issues. This eventually ruined the rescue operations.
Shin, the student, said that many people have tried to comfort the surviving students, but some people were “burying daggers in our hearts” by saying that the survivors “betrayed” their classmates by coming back alive. “Whenever we heard such things, our hearts tore apart and ached and we shed tears because we felt guilty and sorry for our friends.”
“Just as we cannot forget them, we ask that the citizens of this country also never forget them,” Shin said of the dead, stopping at one point as tears choked his words.
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