South Korea ferry disaster: Fake survivor posts add to nation's anguish (1853 hits)
(CNN) -- Disgust, anger and shock greeted official statements from South Korean authorities that texts and social media posts from survivors trapped inside the stricken ferry had been faked.
Messages such as "I am still alive... in the cafeteria please help me my battery is running out please believe me," and "My phone is not working I am inside the boat I can't see anything" were spreading on social media on Thursday -- as late as over 24 hours after the incident.
The messages gave extra substance to hope at least some of the hundreds of missing passengers were alive and awaiting rescue. News and rumors of the texts circulated around families of the missing. The purported texts contained so much detail, they made relatives "surprised and excited," one mother said earlier this week.
The texts also fueled a tense atmosphere at Jindo -- where distraught families viewed them as proof several passengers were alive. This led to remonstrations and the hurling of objects at authorities, who relatives accused of not doing enough to save their children.
"An investigation from the Police Cyber Terror Response Center verified that all texts in question [from passengers still within the ship] are fake," South Korea police posted on its official Twitter account.
