Passengers aboard a sinking South Korean ferry faced a terrifying choice as the vessel rolled: obey commands barked over loudspeakers to stay in place, or don life vests and jump into the chilly ocean water.
“Don’t move,” a voice warned, according to a recording obtained by CNN affiliate YTN. “If you move, it’s dangerous. Don’t move.”
That announcement, some witnesses worried, may have cost some passengers on the ferry Sewol their lives.
“Kids were forced to stay put,” one survivor told CNN affiliate YTN, “so only some of those who moved survived.”
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A relative of a victim weeps as she and others stand on the deck of a boat during a visit to the site of the sunken Sewol ferry on April 15, 2015 -- one day before the one year anniversary of the disaster.
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Ed Jones - Pool/Getty Images
South Korean ferry sinks —
A relative hands out flowers to others on the deck of a boat during a visit to the site of the sunken ferry. More than 100 relatives of victims of South Korea's Sewol ferry disaster tearfully cast flowers into the sea.
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ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
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A man hold a flower as he stands on the deck of a boat during a visit to the site of the sunken Sewol ferry, off the coast of South Korea's southern island of Jindo.
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ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
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The mother of Sewol ferry disaster victim, Danwon High School student Lim Kyung-Bin, attends a rally to pay tribute to the victims of the ferry disaster on April 11, 2015, Seoul, South Korea.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Image
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Relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster march across a bridge over the Han river in Seoul on April 5, 2015. More than 200 people participated in the march from Ansan city. Many of them were the parents of the 250 students who died when the overloaded ferry sank off Jindo on April 16, 2014.
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ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
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Relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry hold portraits of victims during a rally on April 5, 2015 in Seoul. Relatives, students and citizens attended the vigil to pay tribute to the victims of the ferry disaster and demanded that the wreckage be salvaged.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
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Sewol ferry captain Lee Joon-Seok was acquitted of murder, avoiding a death sentence, but was sentenced to 36 years in jail on November 11 for his role in the maritime disaster that killed more than 300.
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Wonsuk Choi/AFP/Getty Images
South Korean ferry sinks —
Shoes believed to belong to the missing and the deceased are on display at the harbor.
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K.J. Kwon
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Jindo harbor, where the search operation is based, has become a memorial for those who lost their lives. Yellow ribbons and photos are displayed as people come to pay their respects.
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K.J. Kwon
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A joint government-civilian task force is still looking for the missing, but winter is fast approaching.
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K.J. Kwon
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Ten are still missing from tragic ferry sinking last April, which killed more than 300. Six months later, families are still waiting for their loved ones to be found. The parents of 16-year-old Huh Da-yoon, pictured, are among them.
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K.J. Kwon
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The families of the ten who remain missing have been waiting in Jindo Indoor Gymnasium since the first day. Families can watch search mission in real time on a large monitor in the gym.
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K.J. Kwon
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South Korean President Park Geun-hye weeps while delivering a speech to the nation about the sunken ferry Sewol at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday, May 19. More than 200 bodies have been found and nearly 100 people remain missing after the ferry sank April 16 off South Korea's southwest coast.
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Do Kwang-hwan/Yonhap/Ap
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Police in Seoul detain a protester during a march Saturday, May 17, for victims of the Sewol.
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YANG JI-WOONG/epa/LANDOV
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A girl in Seoul holds a candle during a service paying tribute to the victims of the Sewol on Wednesday, April 30.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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People pay tribute to victims at a memorial altar in Ansan, South Korea, on Tuesday, April 29.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
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A police officer holds an umbrella for a relative of a missing ferry passenger Monday, April 28, in Jindo, South Korea.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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South Korean Buddhists carry lanterns in a parade in Seoul on Saturday, April 26, to honor the memory of the dead and the safe return of the missing.
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Divers search for people in the waters near Jindo on April 26.
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Yonhap/AP
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People in Ansan attend a memorial for the victims on April 26.
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NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images
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A diver jumps into the sea near the sunken ferry on Friday, April 25.
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Yonhap/AP
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A relative of a passenger weeps while waiting for news of his missing loved one at a port in Jindo on April 25.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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People attend a memorial for the victims at the Olympic Memorial Hall in Ansan on Thursday, April 24.
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KIM DOO-HO/AFP/Getty Images
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Yellow ribbons honoring the victims flap in the wind as a hearse carrying a victim's body leaves Danwon High School in Ansan on April 24. Most of the people on board the ferry were high school students on their way to the resort island of Jeju.
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Lee Jin-man/AP
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People attend a memorial for the victims at Olympic Memorial Hall in Ansan.
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KIM DOO-HO/AFP/Getty Images
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Search personnel dive into the sea on Wednesday, April 23.
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Yonhap/AP
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Flares light up the search area on Tuesday, April 22.
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ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
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The sun sets over the site of the sunken ferry on April 22.
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ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
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A relative of a ferry passenger prays as she waits for news in Jindo on April 22.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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The search for victims continues April 22 in the waters of the Yellow Sea.
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YONHAP/EPA/LANDOV
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Rescue workers in Jindo carry the body of a passenger on Monday, April 21.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
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Divers jump into the water on April 21 to search for passengers near the buoys that mark the site of the sunken ferry.
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Yonhap/aP
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Search operations continue as flares illuminate the scene near Jindo on Sunday, April 20.
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Yonhap/AP
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Relatives of missing passengers grieve April 20 in Jindo.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
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Relatives of passengers look out at the sea from Jindo on April 20.
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Lee Jin-man/AP
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Police officers in Jindo stand guard Saturday, April 19, to prevent relatives of the ferry's missing passengers from jumping in the water. Some relatives said they will swim to the shipwreck site and find their missing family members by themselves.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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Family members of missing passengers hug as they await news of their missing relatives at Jindo Gymnasium on April 19.
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KIMIMASA MAYAMA/EPA /LANDOV
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South Korean Navy Ship Salvage Unit members prepare to salvage the sunken ferry and search for missing people on April 19.
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KIMIMASA MAYAMA/EPA /LANDOV
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Lee Joon Suk, the captain of the Sewol, is escorted to the court that issued his arrest warrant Friday, April 18, in Mokpo, South Korea.
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Yonhap/AP
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A woman cries as she waits for news on missing passengers April 18 in Jindo.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
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A searchlight illuminates the capsized ferry on Thursday, April 17.
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Yonhap/AP
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A woman cries during a candlelight vigil at Danwon High School in Ansan, South Korea, on April 17.
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Wonghae Cho/AP
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Family members of passengers aboard the sunken ferry gather at a gymnasium in Jindo on April 17.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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The body of a victim is moved at a hospital in Mokpo on April 17.
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Yonhap/AP
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Relatives of a passenger cry at a port in Jindo on April 17 as they wait for news on the rescue operation.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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South Korean coast guard members and rescue teams search for passengers at the site of the sunken ferry on April 17.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
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A relative of a passenger cries as she waits for news on Wednesday, April 16.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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Relatives check a list of survivors April 16 in Jindo.
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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
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Rescue crews attempt to save passengers from the ferry on April 16.
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Republic of Korea Coast Guard/Getty Images
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A relative waits for a missing loved one at the port in Jindo.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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Parents at Danwon High School search for names of their children among the list of survivors. Ansan is a suburb of Seoul, the South Korean capital.
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Ahn Young-joon/AP
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Helicopters hover over the ferry as rescue operations continue April 16.
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Yonhap/AP
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Officials escort rescued passengers April 16 in Jindo.
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Park Chul-heung/Yonhap/AP
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A passenger is helped onto a rescue boat on April 16.
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The Republic of Korea Coast Guard/Getty Images
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A passenger is rescued from the sinking ship on April 16.
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Republic of Korea Coast Guard/Getty Images
As rescuers searched the frigid water for nearly 300 people who remained unaccounted for, witnesses told horrific stories of their final minutes on the sinking ship.
“We were told to stay where you are, so we kept staying,” survivor Hyun Hung Chang told YTN. “But later on, the water level came up. So we were beside ourselves. Kids were screaming out of terror, shouting for help.”
At least some of those who jumped or made their way to the top of the ship were rescued. Helicopter crews plucked some from the deck.
Others were pulled from the water by rescuers aboard the multitude of fishing boats and military vessels that raced to the scene as the ship rolled over and capsized.
“I had to swim a bit to get to the boat to be rescued,” Lim Hyung Min, one of more than 300 Seoul high school students who was aboard the ship for a four-day field trip, told CNN affiliate YTN. “The water was so cold and I wanted to live.”
Ninehave been confirmed dead, officials said Thursday.
As of 10:45 a.m. (9:45 p.m. ET Wednesday),of the 475 people who were aboard the ferry when it capsized,there were 287 people missing, and 179 people had been rescued, the coast guard said.
Police are questioning the boat’s captain, and maritime police are investigating safety and rescue conditions aboard the ferry, YTN reported.
The captain had few words for the public.
South Korean ferry rescue operation
“I’m sorry, I have nothing to say,” the captain said, according to South Korean TV network JTBC.
A massive rescue operation resumed early Thursday after a delay of several hours, the South Korean Coast Guard told CNN. The reason for the delay was unclear.
Dozens of military divers, sailors, marines and police officers were assisting in the effort.
But cold water, swift currents and low visibility appeared to be complicating the rescue operation.
Water temperatures in the area are between 50 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit (about 10 to 13 degrees Celsius), CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller said.
Helicopters took off from the U.S. Navy ship USS Bonhomme Richard Thursday to support search efforts, said Lt. Arlo Abrahamson, spokesman for the U.S. Navy in South Korea.
The U.S. ship also has divers aboard who could help with searching if South Korea’s government requests it, he told CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
“From the images that I’ve seen, there’s clearly some areas of the hull that are above the water, that are not flooded,” Mike Dean, the U.S. Navy deputy director for salvage and diving, told “CNN Tonight.” “So absolutely, there could be areas in there where there is breathable air, but the trouble right now is the temperature and getting people to them.”
Rescuers are “up against every sort of obstacle,” said David Gallo, director of special projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
“It’s just an absolutely, positively horrific situation,” he said. “It’s nightmarish.”
The warning over the ferry’s loudspeakers may have put passengers’ lives at risk, said Mary Schiavo, a CNN analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“I think the instruction for those people to remain in place and not get on lifeboats was terribly, tragically wrong,” she said.
Kim Petersen, governor emeritus of the Maritime Security Council, said that when crew members aboard the ship issued that warning, it might have been the best course of action.
“The master of the ship, the captain, may well have determined that the vessel was going to remain level and might sink at a steady rate that would allow for the safe exit of people off of the vessel using life rafts, for example, and that would be the preferred way to go,” he said. “It may well be that the announcement was made while the captain was under the impression that the vessel was not going to sink quickly. And that events overtook their ability to communicate a change in direction to the passengers.”
Massive damage?
What caused the ship to sink is unknown. It capsized within two hours of its first distress call, which came just before 9 a.m., Yonhap reported
Peter Boynton, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain, said the speed with which the ship sank suggested it had sustained “major damage.”
It most likely struck something in the water, Boynton said.
Making matters worse, the ferry carried dozens of vehicles. Once an auto deck is breached, “it’s typically open to very significant flooding,” Boynton said. That could explain “why the ferry in just a matter of hours began to roll onto its side so quickly.”
As authorities searched for answers, heartbroken family members of the missing gathered in Jindo, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the site where the ferry sank.
Desperation turned to anger for some, who accused authorities of not doing enough.
Coast guard boats took some family members clamoring for answers out to the site of the shipwreck early Thursday.
Catherine E. Shoichet and Michael Pearson wrote and reported from Atlanta; Paula Hancocks reported from Jindo, South Korea; translators Hyoun Joo Song and Elena Kim and CNN’s KJ Kwon, Holly Yan, Jessica King, Karen Smith, Josh Levs, Euan McKirdy, Stella Kim, Frances Cha, Madison Park and Judy Kwon also contributed to this report.
