'Do not die!' says unread text message from restored smartphone

By Park Sae-jin Posted : May 26, 2017, 15:32 Updated : May 26, 2017, 15:32

[Yonhap News Photo]


"Do not die!. Surely, you should stay alive," says an unread text message restored from a smartphone found in the wreck of a South Korean ferry which was raised from the seabed in March three years after it sank with the loss of more than 300 lives.

The unidentified user had checked messages until 9:29 am (0029 GMT), although his or her smartphone ceased operation at 10:01 am on April 16, 2014, when the Sewol sank off the southwestern island of Jindo.

A committee of state investigators said Friday that digital forensic experts have restored media files and other data from two mobile phones retrieved inside the ferry which has been transported to the southwestern port of Mokpo for the search of nine victims listed as missing.

One of the two smartphones contained 142,162 photos, 2,952 text messages, eight video and 409 voice files while the other contained a bigger volume of data, the committee said. Details such as identity were not disclosed.

The committee has discovered a lot of personal belongings and four sets of the remains. So far, three remains have been identified through DNA testing. The Sewol was carrying 476 people, including 325 students from a high school in Ansan when it sank. A total of 295 bodies were recovered. 

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com

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