Two Sewol ferry victims laid to rest (original) (raw)

SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- A belated public memorial service was held on Monday for two teenage victims of the tragic ferry sinking in 2014 that took more than 300 lives aboard.

Large portraits of Cho Eun-hwa and Hur Da-yoon were placed in the Seoul Metropolitan Library inside Seoul City Hall, where a ceremony was held in remembrance of the two high school girls from Ansan, south of Seoul.

The Sewol ferry sank off the country's southwestern coast en route to Jeju island on April 16, 2014. Of the 476 passengers aboard, 295 -- mostly high school students on a school trip -- died, with nine others still unaccounted for.

Cho and Hur were among the four whose remains were discovered from the shipwreck after it was hoisted from the sea early this year, three years after the accident.

Families of Cho Eun-hwa (L in picture) and Hur Da-yoon (R) speak before the public and press in gratitude during the memorial service held at the Seoul Metropolitan Library inside the Seoul City Hall on Sept. 25, 2017. (Yonhap)

They called the service "a farewell ceremony" instead of a funeral, the organizers said, in consideration of the families of the five still missing.

The smiling pictures were decorated with a mixture of red and pink flowers, as opposed to white chrysanthemums that are usually used for such occasions.

Hundreds of mourners, in individuals, groups and families, have visited the service since Saturday when the bodies were transported to the Seoul National University Hospital from the port city of Mokpo.

"Thanks to all of you, we could finally lift the Sewol and now let go of our Da-yoon and Eun-hwa," Park Eun-mi, Da-yoon's mother, said in tears. "I ask all of you to continue your support until the rest of the families find their loved ones in the Mokpo port."

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon consoled the families, saying that he hopes the service can bring closure to the suffering and help them move on from the unbearable tragedy.

"I hope that we can all get over the pain and live together. Da-yoon and Eun-hwa have been returned and have found peace, as you've wished," he said.

The coffins carrying the two victims made a brief visit to their high school campus in Ansan, before being transported to a crematorium in Suwon. They were laid to rest at a cemetery in Pyeongtaek, east of Seoul, where other Sewol victims have been buried.

elly@yna.co.kr
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