Rescue underway after ferry accident
Hundreds of people are missing after a South Korean passenger ferry capsized and sank 20 kilometers (13 miles) off the southern island of Byungpoong, in Jindo, South Korea, on April 16, 2014.
A major rescue operation
A major rescue operation is underway after a passenger ferry carrying some 476 people capsized off the coast of South Korea. There were 325 students from a high school near Seoul on board the vessel. The students were on a trip to Jeju Island, about 80 kilometers south of the mainland.
Distress signal
Here, rescue helicopters can be seen hovering above the stricken ferry. The ship sent out a distress signal after it began to list badly, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency. Coast guard officials say the ship listed heavily to one side and began taking on water about 20 km offshore.
Race to find survivors
South Korean rescue teams, including elite US Navy SEAL divers, were searching for hundreds of missing passengers on the stricken vessel after the accident on Wednesday, April 16.
Mostly students
A girl rescued by South Korean maritime police from the sinking ship is treated at a port in Jindo. More than 300 students travelling with 14 teachers from a high school in Ansan just south of Seoul were on board. They had been on a trip to Jeju Island, a popular resort destination in South Korea.
Joint effort
Here, a passenger is rescued by South Korean maritime policemen. Many of those saved appeared to have been rescued by the crews of fishing and other commercial vessels that were first to arrive on the scene. Later a flotilla of coastguard and navy ships arrived, backed up by rescue helicopters.
Nightmare in April
Survivors wrapped in blankets gather at a port in Seogeochado. The water temperature was around 12.6 degrees Celsius - 55 Fahrenheit - meaning that passengers were in danger of suffering from hypothermia.
Worries parents
The mother of a boy on the ferry reacts emotionally when she finds her son's name on the list of survivors at a gym where rescued passengers were taken in Jindo.
US Navy joins the rescue operation
Rescue teams worked hard to pluck people from the ship as it first listed and then sank, leaving only part of the vessel above the water. The US Navy has sent a ship to join the search and rescue operation.
Rare accidents
The South Korean passenger ferry Sewol seen before it capsized and sank on April 16, 2014. Scores of ferries ply the waters between the South Korean mainland and its many offshore islands every day and accidents are relatively rare. Back in October 1993, nearly 300 people died when a ferry capsized off the west coast.