CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. My name is Carl Azuz. It`s good to see you this Thursday. First up, people around the world are praying for South Korea. On Wednesday, there was an accident on a ferry headed for a resort island. It was carrying 459 people. The weather was good. The seas were calm. But witnesses say that around 9 a.m. the ship started to list. At some point, there was a loud bang. It`s unclear whether that was before or after the ship began tilting. People were told over a loudspeaker to stay where they were, that it`d be too dangerous to move, but over the next couple of hours, the ship capsized, and the passengers many of whom were high school students, were in desperate need of rescue. Paula Hancocks reported on this in the hours after the accident.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It`s a heartbreaking scene here, just outside Jindo auditorium on the southwest tip of South Korea. This is really the staging area for where the rescued had come earlier this morning, but now where the parents of those who are still missing are congregated desperately waiting for any news of their children.

There is a list behind me, which is basically of the people who have been rescued and the names of the hospitals if they have been taken to hospital. We are seeing families arrive in a desperate state, looking through those names, pouring over the list and breaking down when they see that their child`s name is not on that list. Now, we now that the majority of the passengers on this ship were high school students. They were on their way to Jeju Island, just size of South Korea, but hundred kilometers south. It`s a tourist area. They were on a full day field trip. We know at this point almost 300 people are still missing. Now, as you can see darkness has fallen and, of course, with it hopes are falling as well of finding many more survivors. We do know that the search and rescue operation is still very much underway. Helicopters are trying to see if anyone is in the water. We know that Navy divers have been trying to get inside the sunken ship, throughout the day. It`s unclear whether or not they were able to. We know they were having difficulty because of strong currents. There`s also a USS Navy ship from the U.S. Seventh Fleet trying to lend their hand as well. A desperate situation as the search continues for those who are still missing. But of course, these waters are cold of South Korea, and we are hearing from the coast guard that the expectation of survival really is no more than two hours.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jindo, South Korea.

AZUZ: Next story today concerns the Middle Eastern nation of Yemen. It`s not just what it shows that troubles the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon. It`s also whom it shows. This is believed to be the largest gathering of terrorists in years. They are affiliated with al Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for this September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. And they are meeting out in the open, blatantly risking a possible strike by a U.S. drone. In the video, the group`s leader acknowledges this risk and calls on terrorists to attack America again.

Experts say the CIA and the U.S. military either didn`t know about the meeting, or they couldn`t get a drone there in time to attack. But after its recent appearance on militant Islamist Websites, U.S. officials are analyzing every frame.