2 dead, hundreds missing after South Korean ferry sinks

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2 dead, hundreds missing after South Korean ferry sinks
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Two people are confirmed dead and 295 are missing after a passenger ferry slowly sank off the southwest coast of South Korea on Wednesday. South Korean officials had said earlier that only about 100 passengers were unaccounted for. The death toll is expected to rise.

A majority of the 474 passengers on board were high school students, and many of them were rescued after jumping into the freezing water. According to CNN, authorities are unable to say what caused the ship to sink. The ferry, which was headed from the port city of Incheon to the resort island of Jeju, sent out a distress signal at around 9 a.m. local time (8 p.m. ET).

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.