by JULIE HA
Just one week away from the 100-day anniversary of the Sewol sinking in South Korea, another ripple of the tragedy occurred.
On Thursday, a helicopter carrying five firefighters searching for the 11 remaining bodies of the South Korean ferry victims crashed near an apartment building and school in the southern city of Gwangju, reports the Associated Press.
The helicopter was returning to its headquarters from its search mission when the crash occurred, fire officials told the Associated Press. A female teenager on the ground was also hit by flying debris and suffered minor injuries.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known and is being investigated.
Seven people, including the five firefighters, have been killed in the search operations for the ferry victims. Two divers died while participating in the dangerous underwater search of the vessel.
South Korea news station YTN showed a video of the crash captured by a nearby driver’s black box camera in his car:
Correction: An earlier version of this story said that today marked the 100-day anniversary of the Sewol sinking, but it is July 24, one week from today. KoreAm regrets this error.
