Students of the South Korean school which suffered huge loss of lives in a ferry disaster on April 16 have returned to school.
More than 300 students from Danwon High School, located in South of Seoul, were on the Sewol ferry when it capsized as it sailed from Incheon to Jindo Island, with most of the students dead, or missing inside the sunken hull.
According to the school’s schedule, students in grade one and two will return to school on Monday, when they will also attend psychological support classes.
The back-to-school day for disaster survivors has not yet been scheduled as they are staying at home or in hospitals to receive physical and psychological treatment.
After the ninth day of searching since the South Korean ferry sinking disaster, 159 people have been confirmed dead and 143 others are still missing. The number of those rescued is unchanged at 174.
Meanwhile, families of those still missing complained about what they called sluggish rescue efforts, urging the search teams to make their last spurt before the temporary slowdown of the tidal currents ends.
About 50 families and relatives of the missing victims, stormed in to the rescuers’ headquarters at Jindo county office around 1 p.m. to protest against the government’s handling of the accident.
Admist all these, a crew member of the capsized ferry said that he and his colleagues were “ordered” to abandon the ship.
The Sewol, weighing almost 7,000 tons, sank on a routine trip from the port of Incheon, near Seoul, to the southern holiday island of Jindo. Investigations are focused on human error and mechanical failure.
The unidentified crew member declined to reveal who gave them the order.
