The South Korean authorities said that shivering messages, social media posts, and short messages were totally false. Messages like “Help me, I am alive” and “Please help me, my battery is turning down, please believe me” brought hopes for parents who lost their children in the recent ferry incident. These rumors circulated in the country like fire in the forest and created troublesome situation for the authorities engaged in the rescue operation.
A mother said to a private news agency that I was so excited when I heard through social media that most of the missing students are still alive and sending their messages to relatives.
After receiving such messages, hundreds of people gathered at Jindo and showed the messages to South Korean authorities. Later on, they lost their patience and started hurling different objects at the officials. They mourned loudly and said that “you people are doing nothing to save life of our children”.
On the contrary, officials of Police Cyber Terror Response Center said that “we have verified all the messages and they are not genuine”. In press conference, the officials requested to people that “please stop sending fake messages to the grieved families otherwise they would be dealt as per the cyber law”.
Last but not the least, there is national grief across the country and all scheduled concerts and school field trips have been postponed.