Teens who survived South Korea ferry sinking scarred by friends’ deaths

A mother and her daughter tie yellow ribbons with messages for missing passengers and victims aboard the sunken ferry Sewol in the water off the southern coast, at a group memorial altar in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday, July 28, 2014. Photo: AP Photo/Lee Jin-man

ANSAN, South Korea —South Korean teenagers who survived April’s ferry sinking said Tuesday they are still haunted by the disaster that killed dozens of their friends, and demanded that crew members be punished for abandoning the passengers and fleeing the ship.

Students from Danwon High School near Seoul testified for a second day at the trial of 15 crew members involved with the ferry’s navigation who face charges of negligence and failing to carry out their duty to rescue passengers. The sinking left more than 300 people dead or missing, and most of the victims were Danwon students who were travelling to a resort island on a school trip.

One student said she has had nightmares since the sinking, and another said she feels despondent whenever she thinks about her friends who died. A third student said she was hurt by some Internet postings that made them feel guilty for surviving while others died.

“When I got out of the cabin and moved to a corridor, there was a friend of mine on the other side of a bed (in the cabin) and our eyes met. (My friend) failed to escape,” a fourth student said.

The students’ names were withheld to protect their privacy.

A survivor student from the sunken ferry Sewol in the water off the southern coast arrives to testify in the trial of the 15 crew members as police officers stand guard outside of the Ansan branch of Suwon District Court in Ansan, South Korea, on Monday, July 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Shin Young-keun, Yonhap)

The sinking, one of South Korea’s deadliest disasters in decades, has triggered widespread grief and renewed scrutiny of public safety.

Survivors say they heard no evacuation orders, and prosecutors argued that a timely evacuation announcement could have saved more lives. Prosecutors say the 15 crew members abandoned the ship even though they knew passengers were trapped inside and would die when the ferry sank. The defence has denied any collusion, saying the crew members were confused, injured and panicked.

When asked by prosecutors whether they want the crew members to receive punishment, most of the students said they must be penalized in line with the law.

“They should get appropriate punishment. It’s something that they shouldn’t have done,” one student said.

This file photo taken off the island of Byungpoong in Jindo on April 16, 2014 shows South Korea Coast Guard members rescuing some of the passengers and crew aboard a South Korean ferry capsizing on its way to Jeju island from Incheon. (YONHAP/AFP/Getty Images)

During Monday and Tuesday’s trial sessions, student survivors said they were repeatedly ordered by loudspeaker to stay inside the sinking ship, but eventually helped each other flee after their cabins became flooded. They said they put on life jackets and were helped by friends who floated to them. One student said she saw some friends swept away by the waters.

Most students described chaos when the ship was sinking. But one said they initially didn’t realize how serious it was so they used cellphones to take photos and video. Video stored on the retrieved cellphone of a dead student which was released to the media in May showed some students joking about the Titanic and taking selfies as fear slowly built after the ferry began to tilt.