All 267 people aboard a South Korean passenger ferry have been rescued after it ran aground on rocks off the country’s south-east coast, according to the Coast Guard.
Officials said the Queen Jenuvia 2 is stuck on a reef and unable to move, but there is currently no risk of it sinking or capsizing.
The accident happened near Jangsan Island in Sinan County on Wednesday evening local time. The vessel ran aground on rocks near the uninhabited island of Jogdo.
Twenty-seven people sustained minor injuries from the impact of the grounding, the Coast Guard said, but there have been no other casualties.
Some passengers described the incident in real time on social media.
“There was a loud bang, and then the ship tilted,” one was quoted as saying by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
“An announcement told everyone to put on life jackets, so we’re wearing them and waiting on the top deck.”
The 26,000-tonne ferry was travelling to the port city of Mokpo after departing from the resort island of Jeju, officials said.
The area is near the site of the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 that killed more than 300 people, mostly school children heading for a school trip.
The salvaged wreck of the Sewol ferry was brought to Mokpo nearly three years later.
Kim Namhyun, a diving instructor on Jeju Island, told Reuters: “I thought I might die. The sound was too loud.
“But having seen the Sewol ferry, I knew that in situations like this, you have to stay calm, move outside, wear a life jacket, and wait.”
The Coast Guard plans to move the vessel ashore at high tide.
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