A painful waiting at school

ANSAN, South Korea - In the auditorium of Danwon High School in this Seoul suburb, relatives and friends gathered in an agonizing wait for answers about loved ones on the sunken ferry. For many, there were only questions.

Of 325 students, in their penultimate year of high school, and 15 teachers on the ferry, about 80 were accounted for by late afternoon, a notice showed.

Several relatives expressed anger at the school and the government for a lack of information, almost 11 hours after the ferry began to sink. Televised news played on a large screen overhead.

Lee Jae Eun had seven friends from elementary or middle school on the ferry, none on the rescued list. She nervously held up her phone as she went through their pictures, her hands shaking as she flipped through them one by one.

Korean Red Cross volunteers from the Ansan area arrived late in the afternoon and began preparing rice, cup noodles, snacks, drinks, and coffee. Donations of mobile phones, chargers, and blankets were arriving.

As the day drew to an end, many of the waiting parents left to make the six-hour bus ride to Jindo, the closest land point to the site of the ferry. The buses were provided by the school.

Park Yong Woo said his nephew, Kim Soo Bin, was on one of the rescued lists. The boy's parents were in Jindo but had not found him yet, Park said.

"We can't trust the list and statements from the school or the government until we see him face to face," he said. "Different departments are releasing different names and information."

Kim Ok Young described a phone call with granddaughter Park Ji Yoon.

"Grandma, I think I'm going to die," she had said. "The ship is sinking and I'm holding on to the rail." Then the phone disconnected.

Kim reached her granddaughter one more time, she said. In that call, Ji Yoon said only "I have to go," then the phone cut off. The girl also sent a text with a single Korean character, one that conveyed no meaning. Since then, nothing.

Hours later, her name was still not on the list of rescued.

The girl's parents went to Jindo as soon as they heard about the ferry, the grandmother said.

They took dry clothes for their daughter.