By Ju-min Park and Dogyun Kim
MUAN COUNTY, South Korea (Reuters) – Empty desks and a calendar marking days off after Christmas sit in a South Korean office where five co-workers planned a vacation to Thailand that ended in tragedy on Sunday when his return Jeju Air flight crashed.
The five colleagues, who flew to Bangkok to celebrate their promotions, were among the 179 people who died when Flight 7C2216 crashed at Muan International Airport in the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil.
Still in shock over the loss of their coworkers and friends, colleagues wearing black ribbons cried at their desks in the public education office Tuesday, as they stared at a victim's empty desk.
White chrysanthemums had been placed on the desk as a sign of mourning, while boxes with books and office supplies awaited another victim who had to move the desks for the New Year.
“It doesn't seem real,” said Lee Dae-keun, an official at the Jeollanamdo Education Bureau who worked in the same department as one of the victims.
“She still remains in my eyes. Every time I see flowers on that empty desk, ah, sadness takes over me.”
Reuters is not naming the victims at the request of colleagues who asked for privacy.
The deceased employees were an old group of co-workers who were looking forward to their long-awaited trip, their co-workers said.
“As a colleague, she was very hard-working and kind, 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 to his colleagues' grieving families who were camping.
In the office, officials set up an altar where colleagues and neighbors came to offer their condolences.
Bowing tearfully at the altar, Lee Kwi-sun, the school's chef, vividly recalled his last moment when he held hands with another victim.
“Our names are similar. We were like long-lost brothers who had just met. So we said let's meet again, we held hands, laughed and parted ways,” he recalled.
“I talked to her a lot on a personal and professional level, so this breaks my heart,” he said.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
