Flowers and tears as families mourn South Korea ferry dead

More than 100 relatives of victims of South Korea's Sewol ferry disaster tearfully cast flowers into the sea April 15 at an emotional memorial event on the eve of the tragedy's first anniversary.
      
In bright sunshine and on a calm sea, the relatives were taken by boat to the large yellow buoy that marks the site where the ferry sank on April 16 last year, with the loss of 304 lives -- most of them high school students.
      
Lying on the sea bed 40 meters (130 feet) below, the sunken ferry remains a highly sensitive topic of heated debate a year on -- not least over the question of whether it should be raised to the surface.
      
Victims' families have threatened to boycott a semi-official memorial service on Thursday unless the government makes an immediate commitment to salvaging the 6,825-tonne Sewol -- an operation that would cost an estimated $110 million.
      
The relatives also continue to stage regular protests calling for a fully independent inquiry into the sinking, arguing that a committee created to probe the causes has been compromised by the inclusion of government officials in key posts.
      
The shock accident -- which plunged the whole nation into a months-long period of intense mourning -- was largely blamed on the ship's illegal redesign and overloading.
      
But it also laid bare deeper-rooted problems of corruption, lax safety standards and regulatory failings attributed to the country's relentless push for economic growth.
                      
As the boat carrying the families on Wednesday neared the site of the accident off the southern island of Jindo, weeping relatives lined the deck on both sides, clutching white flowers and small mementos of their loved ones.