Students saved by their teachers, who are now missing

Posted on : 2014-04-18 15:01 KST Modified on : 2014-04-18 15:01 KST
Surviving students suffering from mental trauma, desperate to hear the fate of their selfless teachers
 Gyeonggi Province
Gyeonggi Province

By Kim Ki-seong and Hong Seok-jae, staff reporters in Ansan

Gu Seong-min, 17, a second-year high school student in class 6 at Danwon High School in Ansan who was dramatically rescued from the chaos of the Sewol ferry’s sinking, was sobbing as he spoke. “I can still hear Mr. Nam shouting at us. ‘Don‘t worry and stay calm. That’s the only way to survive,’ he said. But I don’t see him any more.” Gu was talking about Nam Yun-cheol, a teacher who had accompanied the students.

“Mr. Nam did his best for as long as he could to help me and my friends escape from the ferry,” Gu said.

Han Sang-hyeok, 17, a student in the same class as Gu who escaped along with him, cannot forget the words of another teacher, Ko Chang-seok. “When the ship started tilting, Mr. Ko took the life vests that came pouring into the room and started screaming at the top of his voice for us to put them on and get out of the ship,” he said.

“Mr. Ko always really understood us, and he was a really fun teacher,” the boy said, his eyes red from crying.

Other students talked about the heartbreaking sacrifice of Lee Hae-bong, another teacher at the school. “The last I saw of Mr. Lee, he was holding on to the railing and helping the kids escape,” said Kwon Ji-hyeok, 17, a second-year student from class 5 who barely managed to reach the deck and jump off the ship. “I just hope that he safely returns to us.”

Sixty-three of the students who were rescued by the selfless efforts of their teachers were being treated at Korea University Ansan Hospital on Apr. 17, but they were still stunned at how the students’ fates had been decided by their location on the ship.

The victims are avoiding contact with strangers because of the intense trauma that they suffered, but the word “teacher” is enough to make them prick their ears with the desire to hear news. “The teachers never stopped helping us, but when we escaped from the ship, none of them could be seen,” said Kim Min-chan, 17. “My friends are all desperate to know why so few of the teachers made it out of the ship.”

“It was so frightening when I got to the hospital and found out that my teachers and friends are gone. Even being with other people is scary,” said a female student surnamed Kim, 17. While Kim was hospitalized after being rescued, she refused treatment, and she and her mother left the hospital on Apr. 17.

The situation was especially harrowing for class 4 of the second-year. Three of the male students in the class - Jeong Cha-ung, Lim Kyung-bin, and Kwon Oh-cheon, all aged 17 - died at the same time, while the lives of fraternal twins Jeong Dae-jin, and Jeong Bok-jin, 17, who were rescued at the same time, hung in the balance.

“All of the patients are saying that they feel disoriented and detached because of trauma from the accident,” said Cha Sang-hun, director of the hospital where the students are being treated. “While 66 patients, including 37 females and 29 males, were initially admitted to the hospital, three of them were sent home after simple treatment. The rest of them need ongoing observation because of their severe mental trauma.”

Adjacent to the hospital block where the surviving students are trembling with fear is the funeral home, where the bodies of the three deceased students were placed around 9:49 am on Wednesday. But despite instructions given by President Park Geun-hye to help the bereaved families in every way possible, the grieving families are complaining about the lack of adequate administrative assistance for funeral homes.

“I spent more than eight hours wandering around Mokpo and Jindo trying to find the boy,” said Lim Kyung-bin’s uncle, exploding with rage. “When I finally brought him to the funeral home, no preparations had been made for him. For the family, it‘s like losing the child all over again.”

While visitation rooms were prepared for the deceased children on the second floor of Korea University Ansan Hospital at 3 pm, visitors were not being admitted because of opposition from the children’s families.

Meanwhile, about 100 relatives and students gathered at Danwon High School in Ansan to pray for the safe return of the missing students watched the news all day long, shock written on their faces. Since the school is located in an area with many migrant workers, it had special classes for foreign students, just like other elementary, middle, and high schools in the area. A second-year Russian student named Serkov Vyacheslav Nikolayevich from class 4 was reported to be among the missing. Many of the missing students are from families that face financial difficulties, reports indicated.

 

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