Body of Sewol victim retrieved on what would have been 17th birthday
Hwang In-yeol and his wife waited seven years to have a child, and then she was born on October 29, 1997. After a ferry disaster in April that killed her and 303 others, the couple waited again for nearly seven months to see Ji-hyeon's body.
Hwang In-yeol and his wife waited seven years to have a child, and then she was born on October 29, 1997.
After a ferry disaster in April that killed her and 303 others, the couple waited again for nearly seven months to see Ji-hyeon's body. The vigil just ended, when divers retrieved their only child's body on what would have been her 17th birthday.
"The saddest birthday party on the earth," read a headline in the newspaper yesterday, alongside a picture showing a sobbing Hwang standing with his wife on Wednesday before a cake with candles on it.
"Please, wait peacefully for me in heaven. Daddy will follow you soon," the 51-year-old Hwang was quoted as saying.
Divers found Ji-hyeon's body on Tuesday in the sunken ship Sewol, but it took a day to pull it up to the surface due to currents and its decaying condition. The results of DNA tests confirmed the body is that of Ji-hyeon. Hers was the first recovered since July 18, and raises the official death toll from the April 16 sinking to 295, mostly high school students. Nine others are missing.
Before the body was brought up, Hwang and his wife, Shim Myeong-seop, threw a party to celebrate their daughter's birthday at a gym on the southwestern island of Jindo, where they have been staying since April to be closer to the searches.
