The relatives of the missing passengers of the South Korean ferry broke out on Jindo Island and had a clash with the police today. The crowd which comprised of the family members and relatives of the missing passengers were nearly 200 in number. They set off on Sunday, organising a protest rally that was destined to march from Jindo to the presidential Blue House in Seoul which is about 260 miles to the north.
However several hundred police officers were employed to tackle the crowd and they deliberately tried to check down anyfurther advancement of the rally. According to the reports obtained the police officers effectively blocked a bridge from the island to the main island as a means to block them from advancing anymore. This infuriated the crowd and they entered in to a direct clash with the police. In the scuffle, a good many people were injured and few policemen too sustained small injuries.
Comments obtained from the coast guards say that divers had been able to retrieve 13 more bodies from the ferry and the total number of dead rose to as many as 46. 174 passengers were successfully rescued whereas 256 were still missing. Shin Wonnam, the head of the Emergency Management Centre said that rescue operations have been geared up but experts say that it may even take a month or two. Adding to the woes, he said that it was very unlikely for someone to survive, being trapped for so long.
