First sign of ferry disaster was call from frightened boy

[SEOUL] The first distress call from a sinking South Korean ferry Maritime was made by a boy with a shaking voice, three minutes after the vessel made its fateful last turn.

He called the emergency 119 number which put him through to the fire service, which in turn forwarded him to the coastguard two minutes later.

That was followed by about 20 other calls from children on board the ship to the emergency number, a fire service officer told Reuters.