Former leader of victim families says words meant as comfort can deepen survivors’ pain
A survivor of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster has recently died, according to a former representative of the victims’ bereaved families.
The survivor had been student of Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, which lost 248 students in the sinking.
Yoo Kyung-geun, former executive director of the group representing the bereaved families of Sewol victims, said Sunday that one of the surviving students had recently died. He did not disclose the cause of death, but said the student had “gone to join her friends” at a cemetery in Ansan.
Yoo said the student had previously attempted several times to “follow her friends.”
Yoo added that surviving students have had to live with extreme survivor’s guilt after escaping a disaster that claimed the lives of 304 people.
The victims included second-year students at Danwon High School, 10 teachers from the school and 41 other passengers who were aboard the ill-fated ferry.
“Telling the surviving students, ‘You must bear the weight of the friends who passed away,’ is not comforting, but rather another form of violence against them,” Yoo wrote on Instagram.
“I wish that the surviving students would not suffer from pain, mental or physical, not feel guilty, and just live a normal life,” said Yoo, who lost his daughter in the 2014 tragedy.
The recently deceased survivor was buried at Ansan Haneul Park, where most of the student victims of the Sewol ferry disaster were laid to rest.
The sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16, 2014, remains one of the worst maritime disasters in South Korea’s history.
The ferry, bound for Jeju Island, sank in waters off Jindo, South Jeolla Province, and most of the 476 passengers failed to escape.
The disaster sparked public outrage after it emerged that the ship’s crew, including its captain Lee Jun-seok, had escaped the vessel after instructing passengers to remain where they were. Lee was found guilty of multiple charges, including murder, and is currently serving a life sentence.
Subsequent investigations into the tragedy sparked further controversy, as they found that the ferry had serious defects, had undergone insufficient maintenance and was carrying far more cargo than legally allowed.
The 4.16 Life Safety Park is currently under construction in Ansan to commemorate the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster. It is slated to be completed next year.
* If you’re thinking about self-harm or suicide, contact the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s helpline at 109, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please request a translator for English-language services.
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