April 21, 2014 -- Updated 1434 GMT (2234 HKT)
Witnesses say Park Jee Young, a 22-year-old crew member, refused a life vest because she was too busy helping passengers.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- More crew members have been charged in the Sewol sinking incident
- But survivors tell of a young crew member who helped students get life jackets
- She refused one herself, witnesses tell South Korean media
- Students weep outside Danwon High School, where many remain missing
But there's one crew
member they are leaving out: Park Jee Young, 22, who by witness accounts
helped them escape and distributed life jackets -- one after the other
to students -- as the stricken ferry began to sink.
When she ran out of jackets, she ran to the next floor to grab more.
When she was asked why
she wasn't wearing a life jacket, Park said that crew members would be
last and that she had to help others first, according to witness
accounts to South Korean media.
Park now lies in a funeral home in the city of Incheon.
She is one of the 87 people dead; 215 remain missing.
The other day, a man with injuries to his head showed up to the funeral room where Park's memorial stands.
When asked by Park's
family who he was, the man said that he had been injured in the ferry
and that he was "indebted" to the young woman who placed a towel on his
bloody head and helped him as the water rose.
Flowers for Sewol crew member Park Jee Young pack a hallway at a funeral home in Incheon, South Korea.
"She was so responsible
and so kind," said her grandmother, Jung Jee Kwon, who sat on the floor,
slumped against a wall, no longer able to stand. Her family members
kneeled with her, holding her hand and weeping together on the floor.
White mums and lilies,
which signify death, poured in from strangers, covering the hallway
leading to her memorial room. The flowers contain messages like "We will
not forget your noble spirit." "We will always remember your
sacrifice." "Hero." An online petition has gone up urging the government
to award her a Good Samaritan award.
Her relatives say Park
wanted to stay in college, but she felt responsible for supporting her
family after her father passed away two years ago. So she dropped out
and joined the ferry company in 2012. She was transferred to a bigger
ship, the Sewol, about six months ago, because she had proved her
capabilities, her relatives said.
The Sewol's sinking has
left many appalled by the alleged actions of several members of the crew
-- including the captain, who now faces a series of criminal charges
for his role in last week's sinking.
"This is so unfair that
our Jee Young had to die while the captain ran away," said her aunt, who
declined to give her name. "Jee Young was so responsible, and the
captain just ran away."
Over two-thirds of those on board were students on a high school field trip, many of whom remain missing.
Students grieve in hometown
Judith Ambe grieves for friends missing after the Sewol incident at Danwon High School in Ansan, South Korea.
The students attended Danwon High School in Ansan, a leafy suburb of Seoul.
The high school is missing most of its sophomores, and classes are to resume Thursday.
Those who are not
students, teachers or parents were not allowed on school grounds to
allow those to grieve privately. Well-wishers milled outside the school
gate, writing Post-it notes and signs with messages of hope and
encouragement. "Brothers and sisters, please come back," one read.
Judith Ambe, a local
college student who knew about 10 of the missing students through her
church, stood outside, silently praying.
"I just hope, maybe, they could be found alive," Ambe said, wiping her tears. "I'm hoping God will intervene."
Post-it notes pile up in front of the sign at the gate of Danwon High School in Ansan, South Korea.
"It feels so empty now," said student Kim Song Kyum, 17. "It's not an environment where you can study now."
Every student there knows someone who has died or gone missing, the teenagers said.
"I want everything to be
a lie," high school student Oh Hae Youn said. "When I wake up in the
morning, I feel like everything feels right. Then, I realize it's not. I
just wish everything was a lie."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/21/world/asia/young-sewol-crew-member/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
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