Empty desks and a calendar marking the holidays days after Christmas in a South Korean office where five coworkers once planned a vacation to Thailand that ended in tragedy on Sunday when their return to Jeju Air flight crashes. Five female colleagues who had flown to Bangkok to celebrate promotions were among the 179 people on board when Flight 7C2216 crashed at Muan International Airport in the deadliest air crash on South Korean soil.
Still in shock from losing their coworkers and friends, coworkers wearing black ribbons cried at their desks in the Office of Public Education Tuesday as they looked at the empty desk of one of the victims.
White chrysanthemums were placed on the desk in mourning, while boxes of books and stationery awaited the second victim, who was to remove the desk in the New Year.
“It doesn’t feel real,” said Lee Dae-kyun, an official at the Jeollanamdo education office who worked in the same department as one of the victims.
“She is still there in my eyes. Whenever I see the flowers on that empty table, ah, sadness rushes in.”
Reuters is not naming the victims at the request of colleagues seeking privacy.
His co-workers said that the dead workers were a group of old work friends who were waiting for their long-awaited visit.
“As a coworker, she was really hard-working and nice, a kind coworker to others,” Lee said with a sigh. “She always told me to be happy and positive.”
Lee said he went to the airport with other coworkers to provide food or charge phones for the bereaved families of his colleagues who were camping outside.
In the office, officials set up an altar where colleagues and neighbors came to offer condolences.
Leaning in tears at the altar, school cook Lee Kwei-sun clearly remembered her last moment, holding hands with another victim.
He recalled, “Our names are the same. We were like lost brothers and sisters who had just met. So we talked about meeting again and held each other’s hands and laughed and parted ways.”
“I talked to him a lot personally and professionally, so it breaks my heart,” he said.
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