AP reports that,the news of the death came Friday as rescuers scrambled to find hundreds of people still missing from the ferry and feared dead. The passengers included 325 students heading to a southern island on a four-day trip.
It has been revealed that the captain of the ship and all crew members except one survived and a new video recorded by one of the missing children shows the crew telling the kids not to move.Those who didn't obey instructions survived while those who stayed put sank and are yet to be found.
Passenger Koo Bon-hee, 36, told the Associated Press news agency that many people were trapped inside by windows that were too hard to break. He wanted to escape earlier but an announcement said passengers should stay put.
"If people had jumped into the water ... they could have been rescued. But we were told not to go out.The announcement told us that we should stay still, but the ship was already sinking and there were a lot of students who did not get out of the ship."
See some touching messages from some kids to their parents..
"This might be the last chance to say I love you," one student named as Shin Young-Jin is reported to have texted his mother.
"Why's that," his mother texted back, clearly unaware of the crisis engulfing the vessel. "I love you anyway."
Officials have confirmed 28 deaths. But that number is expected to rise sharply.
But other parents who received such messages have not been reunited with their children. Another exchange between one student and her father was recounted by the AFP news agency and local media:
Student: "Dad, don't worry. I'm wearing a life vest and am with other girls. We're inside the ship, still in the hallway."
Father: "I know that the rescue is under way, but shouldn't you be waiting outside the rail? Try to get out if you can."
Student: "The ship is too tilted. The hallway is crowded with so many people."
In another text exchange widely published on South Korean media a student texted his older brother as the ship ran into trouble.
Student: "The ship ran into something and it's not moving. They say the coast guard just arrived."
Brother: "Don't panic. Just do what you are told to do and then you will be fine".
But there was no further communication after that.
Park Yu-Shin, whose daughter is among the missing, told the AFP news agency that she talked to her daughter as she was coping with the emergency.
"She was telling me: 'We're putting on our life vests. They're telling us to wait and stay put, so we're waiting...I can see a helicopter", Ms Park said. Her daughter is still among the missing.
Reports that messages have been received from students still trapped inside the ferry have not been verified.
