Flowers and tears as families mourn South Korea ferry dead

Relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster weep as they stand on the deck of a boat during a visit to the site of the sunken ferry off the coast of South Korea's southern island of Jindo on April 15, 2015. -AFP

JINDO, South Korea: More than 100 relatives of victims of South Korea’s Sewol ferry disaster tearfully cast flowers into the sea Wednesday at an emotional memorial event on the eve of the tragedy’s first anniversary.

In bright sunshine and on a calm sea, the relatives were taken by boat to the large yellow buoy that marks the site where the ferry sank on April 16 last year with the loss of 304 lives -- most of them high school students.