ALPINE MOM CREATES VIDEO TO HELP FAMILIES OF KOREAN FERRY VICTIMS

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By Miriam Raftery

May 3, 2014 (Alpine)—When Alpine resident Alanna Light heard about the tragic sinking of a Korean ferry boat, she feared for her 24-year-old daughter, who teaches English at a private school in South Korea.

“My dad called me and asked if Kalya was alright,” she recalled, adding that when she heard about the tragedy, “I had a panic attack until I got through to her.”  Fortunately, Kayla was fine.  But at least 242 passengers on the Sewol  ferry have died and another 60 remain missing.  Most of the passengers were high school students.

The captain and 14 crew members have been arrested for leaving the ship and abandoning passengers, including children told to stay in their cabins.  Two others have also been arrested for over-loading the ship, which had 476 people on board.

An operations technician for a local TV station, Light observed that the biggest worldwide change in coverage of such tragedies has been the rampant use of cell phones to videotape and narrate events. “No fictional Hollywood produced movie can ever compare with the deadly reality of the video uploaded to YouTube of the future drowning victims,” she told East County Magazine. “These poor students documented the horrors as they died.”

Light said she forced herself to read the transcripts, unable to bear watching the “horrific” video footage with audio.   

But the worst irony, she found was that “It didn’t have to happen…the shipping company compromised safety to make more money.  It could have happened anywhere, to anybody…”

The ship was owned by the family of millionaire Yoo Byung-un, founder of a religious cult in which 32 members committed suicide in 1987. He has owned many business interests including the Highland Springs resort in California and an organic farm at the facility; he is also known as the photographer Ahae.  Yoo has denied ties to the ill-fated ship, owned by his sons.

Moved to raise awareness of the tragedy and help raise funds for a fund for victims’ families, Light wrote a poem and created a video tribute to the victims, with photos documenting the tragedy. 

Light hopes many people will share her video, since YouTube will pay her if she gets enough hits to make it go viral.

“I will donate anything it brings in to a victims’ family fund,” she pledges.  “Let us hope nothing like this happens again.”

 You can view the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y88IE_3n-Y4


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