A commemorative ceremony was held in Ansan, South Korea on Sunday to mark the third anniversary of a ferry accident that killed more than 300 people.

Survivors and the families of the victims took part in the event at a group memorial altar, along with major presidential candidates.

Two weeks ago, the wreck of the ferry was finally raised and arrived at a port in Mokpo.

The Sewol ferry sank off the country's southwestern coast on 16 April 2014, killing 304 people, most of whom were students on a high school trip.

The incident touched off an outpouring of national grief and soul searching about long-ignored public safety and regulatory failures.

Ansan – 16 April 2017

1. Wide of memorial altar set up in tribute to Sewol ferry accident victims

2. Mid of incense altar and portraits of the deceased

3. Family of victim crying

4. Close of family of victim crying

5. Close of flower

6. Medium of people with flowers

7. Close of man paying silent tribute

8. Mid of incense altar and people laying down flowers

9. Close of flowers

10. Medium of incense altar with flowers

11. Pan of memorial ceremony

12. Various of family of victims crying

13. Jeon Myung-sun, father of Sewol victim Chan-ho, entering podium

14. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Jeon Myung-sun, father of Sewol victim Jeon Chan-ho:

"Even in the process of salvaging Sewol ferry and investigating the hull, the government and the oceans and fisheries ministry still hold and wield power. The central government is still forcing us to stay still. Families of the victims who had to send away 304 victims and the nation's people who watched live the Sewol Ferry accident cannot stay still. We have to bring back the victims who have not returned yet, and start a thorough investigation (on the accident)."

15. Various of choir

16. Close of placard reading: (Korean) "victims of Sewol Ferry accident, leave the painful sea and rest in peace"

17. Wide of memorial ceremony

Students who survived South Korea's Sewol ferry disaster were continuing their witness testimonies on Tuesday at the Ansan branch of the Suwon District Court.

On Monday students had testified that they were repeatedly ordered by loudspeaker to stay in the sinking ship, but eventually helped each other flee after their cabins flooded.

The six girls spoke at a court session for 15 crew members responsible for the ship's navigation who face charges of negligence and failing to perform their duties to rescue passengers, with four of them facing homicide charges.

The students from Danwon High School near Seoul revealed how chaotic the scene on the ferry was, saying they wore life jackets and were helped by friends to float out and leave flooded rooms.

One of them said she saw some schoolmates swept away by the waters.

The April 16 sinking left more than 300 people dead or missing, most of them Danwon students who were travelling to the southern island of Jeju for a school trip.

A total of 325 Danwon students were aboard the ship but only 75 survived, according to local officials.

AP TELEVISION

1. Bus carrying Danwon High School students pulling up to Ansan Branch Court for the second day of testimony in the Sewol ferry disaster trial

2. Students getting off of bus

3. Police officers secure the path as students enter court

4. Students getting off bus

5. Police in front of court entrance

6. Doors to court closing

7. Sign that reads (Korean) "Court"

8. Exterior of Ansan court

Emotions ran high on Wednesday as students who survived the sinking of the South Korean ferry 'Sewol' returned to their high school in Ansan 10 weeks after the disaster.

Making their way up the road to Danwon High School, around 70 students were greeted by parents of classmates who were among the more than 300 dead or missing.

Hugging each other through tears, they were encouraged by group of teachers holding signs that read

One of the survivors, Shin Young-jin, addressed the students, parents and teachers before school began for the day and said all they could do for their lost loved ones was to honour their memories.

"We ask that the citizens of this country also never forget them," he said.

Their return to school came a day after 15 crew members from the ferry were in court for the start of their trial on charges of negligence and of failing to perform their duty to rescue passengers.

Prosecutors accuse them of tacitly colluding to abandon the ship while being aware that the passengers would be trapped and killed when the ship sank.

The defence has denied there was collusion, saying the crew members were confused, some were injured and some panicked.

Captain Lee Joon-seok and three other crew members have also been charged with homicide, a charge which could carry the death penalty, though South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997.

AP TELEVISION

1. Various of students exiting bus

2. Various of students walking up road towards school, greeting parents of victims

3. Woman crying

4. Students greeting parents of victims

5. Woman hugging student, crying

6. Various of teachers holding banners of encouragement for students including one that reads (Korean) "I love you"

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Shin Young-jin, Sewol ferry disaster survivor:

"We will not forget them because we know now that is the best we can do for them. Our memories of them may become memories of guilt, and we may feel sorry towards them because there are many things we will be unable to do together. Just like we cannot forget them, we ask that the citizens of this country also never forget them. For the adults who lead us, through an exhaustive search, we ask that you find those responsible for this crime."

8. Various of students clasping hands, head down

9. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Shin Young-jin, Sewol ferry disaster survivor:

"Why did our friends and our teachers had to become victims? Why did the rescue effort not proceed properly and more were claimed as victims? We ask that there are proper investigations into this. We hope that you will create a safer nation so that such accidents never happen again. They say that when a person really dies, there comes a time to move on. Once again, I ask you to do this."

10. Wide of school

11. Various of parents greeting one another

12. Various of students walking towards school

13. Tilt down from sign that reads (Korean) "We ask for prayers for the dead"

Students who lost classmates in last week's South Korean ferry disaster went back to school without them for the first time on Thursday, while people streamed into a makeshift memorial nearby to pay their respects to the dead.

The victims of the April 16 disaster are overwhelmingly students of a single high school in Ansan, near Seoul.

At the school on Thursday, students filed to classes past a makeshift shrine of yellow ribbons, flowers and notes left in remembrance of the victims.

A hearse carrying the body of one of the students passed by in a lap of honour on its way to the cremation, followed by a bus carrying mourning relatives.

Divers made their way deeper on Thursday into the submerged wreck as the death toll passed 160 and relatives of the more than 140 still missing pressed the government to finish the grim task of recovery soon.

Meanwhile, visitors lined up at the Ansan Olympic Park, where the temporary memorial altar is located, to express their condolences.

"I am very sad, but at the same time, I also feel resentful and angry," said businessman Lee Dong-geun, after visiting the memorial.

"When I entered, I saw the faces of those students (who died) and could not fight back my tears. As an adult over 50, I feel extremely sorry for them."

AP TELEVISION

1. Various of third year students of Danwon High School returning to classes for the first time since the ferry disaster that claimed the lives of many of their classmates

2. Sign on building reading (in Korean) "Danwon High School"

3. Hearse carrying body of a student who died arriving at the school

4. Hearse and a bus carrying mourning relatives coming out of school after passing by before heading to cremation

5. Various of undertakers placing a portrait of a victim at the memorial at Ansan Olympic Park stadium

6. Various of people paying respects at memorial

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Dong-geun, businessman:

"I am very sad, but at the same time, I also feel resentful and angry. When I entered, I saw faces of those students (who died) and could not fight back my tears. As an adult over 50, I feel extremely sorry for them."

8. SOUNDBITE (Korean) You Jae-myoung, pastor:

"South Korea is in pain, Ansan city is in pain and relatives of victims are in pain. The way we always have, I hope people bring cheer to each other so that everyone can recover."

9. Portraits of victims at memorial

10. Various of people paying respects at memorial

A temporary memorial for the Danwon High School students and teachers that sunk with the Sewol ferry opened on Wednesday morning at the Ansan Olympic Museum.

The portraits of 19 Danwon High School students and 2 teachers who lost their lives are currently placed at the altar

The official death toll has reached 146, with at least another 150 still missing.

The portrait of Danwon High School's vice-principal, who was rescued from the listing ferry but committed suicide shortly after, is also among the photographs.

Friends and relatives approached the altar, placing white chrysanthemums to pay their respects.

More than 320 Danwon High School second-year students - mostly 16 and 17-year olds - were on an overnight ferry trip to the southern resort island of Jeju for four days of fun when the ferry listed last Wednesday morning.

A funeral for 25 additional students takes place in Ansan on Wednesday.

1. Mid of temporary memorial at Ansan Olympic Museum in memory of victims who lost their lives in the Sewol ferry disaster

2. Close of photos of deceased victims

3. Mid of people being escorted to memorial

4. Close of visitor placing chrysanthemum (traditionally used at Korean funerals to express condolences to the dead) at memorial

5. Various of mourners paying tribute and crying

6. Wide of mourners

7. Mid of mourners exiting hall

8. Mid of Danwon High School student exiting hall

9. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Seung-min, senior at Danwon High School (Answering, "How are your friends dealing with this tragedy?")

"They're constantly watching the news and crying, and going back and forth from the school, placing chrysanthemums and crying, and unable to do anything."

10. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Eom Mi-kyeong, 56, Friend of vice-principal of Danwon High School (who committed suicide after being rescued):

"It (the rescue) should be done quickly, the fact that it's taking too long hurts. I'm wondering why is it this way, that they just find one person at a time. No one has survived, and they're all lost lives, and it's a pity because they're all dead. I can't describe in words how sad it is. It's Ansan's sorrow, and the nation's sorrow."

11. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Koo Hwan-young, 56, Professor at Seoul Institute of the Arts:

"It's a pity. Students, so many students fell victim and this is devastating beyond words."

12. Tilt down from sign that reads (Korean) 'We pray that the deceased will rest in peace' to memorial

13. Mid of visitors crying at altar and leaving

14. Various of mourners at memorial

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST

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Ansan - 12 April 2015

1. Sewol ferry accident survivor Yang Jeong-won in her old classroom

2. Yang looking at a photo on her mobile of her friends

3. Yang's phone chain shaped in a yellow ribbon, symbolising hope for Sewol victims to return alive

4. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Yang Jeong-won, Sewol ferry disaster survivor: ++BACK FACING TO CAMERA++

"Even when all of us go out for a gym class, there are only a dozen. I wonder if some students are still in the classroom but no, that's all we have now."

5. Yang's yellow bracelet bearing 20140416, the day the incident happened

6. Classroom window with various condolence letters from other students in foreground, Yang with her head on a desk in background

7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Yang Jeong-won, Sewol ferry disaster survivor: ++BACK FACING TO CAMERA++

"We (the surviving students) say that it is nonsense that the crew members received 10 to 30 years of prison time. I think they should be punished as heavily as possible so that such incidents can never happen again. It would be very hard for me to forgive them."

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Ansan - 10 April 2015

8. Portrait of ferry disaster victim Jeong Hwi-bum on his old desk

9. Jeong's mother Shin Jumja wiping clean her son's photo

10. Flowers with a letter reading (Korean) "I love you Hwi-bum"

11. Shin cleaning flowers on her son's desk

12. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Shin Jumja, mother of ferry disaster victim Jeong Hwi-bum:

"I come here thinking that Hwi-bum is playing here, taking classes here, maybe even having quarrels with friends. I feel comfortable coming to his classroom. When I come here with other mothers, I just clean and leave. I am more of a person who suppresses emotions rather than expressing them. I'm shy about expressing my feelings. When I come here by myself, I write letters and attach them on the desk, and look at Hwi-bum's photos in my mobile phone."

13. Tilt down of Park Bona, older sister of 17-year-old ferry disaster victim Park Seong-ho, praying at a makeshift church

14. Tilt up of Park praying

15. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Park Bona, Brother Park Seong-ho died in ferry disaster:

"After I lost Seong-ho on April 16th, working at a big company, graduating from college, making a lot of money, dating all became meaningless to me. About getting married having a baby�I thought what does it even mean to get married in a country that can't even protect my brother and my (future) child?"

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Ansan - 8 April 2015

16. Memorial altar for Sewol disaster victims

17. Victim portraits on altar

18. Group of students walking past memorial altar

19. Poster on wall with yellow ribbon reading (Korean) "We are sorry. We love you. We will never forget you. We will make safe South Korea."

20. Wide of memorial altar

STORYLINE

As the first anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster approaches, many survivors and relatives of those who died on that fateful day are still struggling to come to terms with the pain and sadness they have suffered over the past 12 months.

Seventeen-year-old Yang Jeong-won was one of the lucky ones when the ship capsized on 16 April 2014, killing 304 people.

She was one of only 75 of the 325 second year students from Danwon High School on the ship at the time who survived.

Yang suffers deep anxiety however and often stops by her old classroom to reminisce about her classmates and a beloved teacher who are no longer with her.

Yang and her classmates threw a surprise birthday party for their teacher Kim Cho-won on the ferry, to celebrate her 26th birthday.

A few hours later, on the morning of 16 April 2014, the ferry listed, flipped upside down and sank.

Out of 35 people in the birthday photo she still keeps on her mobile phone, Yang was one of only eight to be rescued.

A year later, Yang is now in her final year of high school, studying design and animation, part of a class that shrank from more than 300 to just 88 students.

She is still searching for answers to why friends who could have been saved had to die, and is angry at the ferry operator.

The ship became top-heavy after a redesign added more cargo and boosted profit.

She blames the government for not regulating ferry operators.

Yang is also enraged by the ship's crew, which escaped when students were trapped because they were told to wait inside.

The tragic accident has also had a big impact on the relatives of those who died.

Shin Jumja, mother of 18-year-old victim Jeong Hwi-bum, comes by her son's school once or twice a week for her own ritual and spends time looking at the picture of her teenage son.

While Park Bona has stopped caring about the things most other 20-something South Koreans are focused on since her 17-year-old brother died in the disaster.

Park, who was majoring in Korean language and literature in college, is now preparing to transfer to another university.

Her aim in life now is to help society remember the dead teenagers and to make South Korea a safer place.

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