A relative of victims onboard sunken ferry Sewol, drop flowers as they visit the site where the ferry sank in the sea off Jindo, ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster, April 15, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL, South Korea - South Koreans are mourning the hundreds of passengers who died in a ferry sinking a year ago. A variety of memorial services and events are planned nationwide Thursday on the first anniversary of one of the country's worst disaster.

Hundreds of grieving relatives and supporters gathered at a small port near the site of the sinking. Flags were lowered and a minute of silence was observed in Ansan, the city that lost nearly an entire class of high school students on a doomed field trip to a southern resort island.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye was expected to meet the grieving relatives before leaving for a trip to Colombia later in the day. A total of 304 people, mostly school children, died when the ferry Sewol sank.