Empty desks and tears mark five colleagues killed in South Korean plane crash

JejuAir Co

31/12/2024 06:31

By Ju-min Park and Dogyun Kim
       MUAN COUNTY, South Korea, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Empty desks
and a calendar marking days off after Christmas sit in a South
Korean office where five co-workers once planned a holiday to
Thailand which ended in tragedy on Sunday when their return Jeju
Air flight crashed.
    The five female colleagues, who flew to Bangkok to celebrate
promotions, were among the 179 people killed when flight 7C2216
crashed at the Muan International Airport in the deadliest air
disaster on South Korean soil.
    Still in shock at the loss of their co-workers and friends,
colleagues wearing black ribbons cried at their desks in the
public education office on Tuesday, as they watched over a
victim's empty desk. 
    White chrysanthemums had been placed on the desk in
mourning, while boxes with books and stationery awaited another
victim who was supposed to move desks in the New Year.
    "It doesn't feel real," said Lee Dae-keun, an official at
Jeollanamdo Office of Education who worked in the same
department as one victim.
    "She is still lingering in my eyes. Whenever seeing flowers
on that empty desk, ah, sadness rushes in."
    Reuters is not naming the victims at the request of
colleagues who asked for privacy.
    The dead employees were an old group of work friends who had
been looking forward to their long-awaited trip, said their
co-workers.
    "As a colleague, she was really hard-working and nice, a
kind colleague to others," Lee said with a sigh. "She always
told me to stay happy and positive."
    Lee said he had gone to the airport with other co-workers to
provide food or charge phones for their colleagues' bereaving
families who were camping out. 
    At the office, officials set up an altar where colleagues
and neighbours came to pay condolences.
    Bowing in tears at the altar, Lee Kwi-sun, a school chef,
vividly remembered her last moment of holding hands with another
victim.
    "Our names are similar. We were like lost siblings that just
met now. So we said to meet again, and held each other's hands
and laughed and parted ways," she recalled.
    "I talked to her a lot personally and professionally, so
this just breaks my heart," she said

 (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Josh Smith and Michael
Perry)
 ((ju-min.park@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
ju-min.park.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))