South Korean Shipwreck: The Search for Survivors

At least seven are dead and hundreds are still missing, many of whom are high school students, after a ferry capsized in South Korea on Wednesday morning. Passengers had to make a life-or-death choice between staying put and jumping. Many of those who were rescued had leapt into the frigid waters. Here a rescue worker waits for a search team's arrival at a port where family members of missing passengers gathered in Jindo.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

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Maritime police search for missing passengers in front of the South Korean ferry "Sewol." Despite frantic rescue efforts involving coastguard vessels, fishing boats and helicopters, in what could be the country's biggest maritime disaster in over 20 years.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

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More than 280 people, many of them students from the same high school, were missing in the disaster.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

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A family member of a missing passenger who was on the ferry cries as she waits for a rescue team's arrival at a port where family members of missing passengers gathered.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

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Maritime police search for missing passenger as lighting flares are released for a night search.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

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South Korean rescue teams, including elite navy SEAL divers, raced to find up people missing from a capsized ferry carrying 459 passengers and crew—mostly high school students bound for a holiday island.

JUNG YEON-JE/Getty

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In this handout provided by Donga Daily, The Republic of Korea Coast Guard work at the site of ferry sinking accident off the coast of Jindo Island.

Park Young-Chul-Donga Daily/Getty

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The ferry identified was travelling to Jeju island.

The Republic of Korea Coast Guard/Getty

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Relatives check the survivor lists as they wait for missing passengers of a sunken ferry at the port in Jindo-gun, South Korea.

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty

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Passengers are rescued by the Republic of Korea Coast Guard from a ferry sinking off the coast of Jindo Island.

The Republic of Korea Coast Guard/Getty

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A father hugs his daughter who was rescued from a sinking ferry, at a gym where rescued passengers gathered.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

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The mother of a passenger who was on a sinking ferry reacts as she finds her son at the gym.

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

South Korean Shipwreck: The Search for Survivors

At least seven are dead and hundreds are still missing after a ferry capsized in South Korea on Wednesday morning. See photos from the scene.