South Korea Raises Ferry That Sank in 2014 Disaster<br />By CHOE SANG-HUNMARCH 22, 2017<br />SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean ferry that sank nearly three years ago, killing more than<br />300 people — most of them teenagers on a school trip — was raised to the surface on Thursday.<br />When huge crowds of people rallied in central Seoul in recent months to demand<br />that Ms. Park be removed, the government’s botched rescue operation was a central grievance voiced against the president.<br />Dozens of ferry company officials, safety inspectors<br />and Coast Guard officials have also been jailed or convicted on various criminal charges related to the sinking.<br />The first Coast Guard boat that arrived at the scene did little more than pick up the fleeing crew members, while<br />passengers trapped inside the ferry banged on the windows as the ship slowly disappeared beneath the waves.<br />Nine people who were on board remain missing, including four students<br />and two teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan, south of Seoul, the South Korean capital.<br />Some of the bereaved family members and sympathetic activists have camped out in Seoul<br />and kept watch on the salvage operation from islands near the site, calling for a more thorough investigation into the government’s response.
