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Search complete in half of sunken ferry's compartments: Coast Guard

Divers have combed through just over half of the ferry Sewol's compartments, excluding those without passengers, a senior Coast Guard official said Sunday as dozens remained missing nearly two weeks after the deadly sinking.

Of the Sewol's 111 compartments, 47 have been excluded from the search as there is "no possibility" that passengers could be found there, Kim Su-hyeon, the chief of the Coast Guard's west regional headquarters, said in a press briefing.

"Of the 64 (remaining) compartments, 35, or more than half, have undergone a primary search," he said.

Divers plan to search three more compartments after 7 p.m., he added.

A total of 476 passengers, most of them high school students on a field trip, were aboard the Sewol when the 6,825-ton ferry capsized and sank off the southwestern island of Jindo on April 16.

As of Sunday, 188 were confirmed dead, with 114 others feared to be trapped inside the vessel.

"Putting the vessel in an upright position is difficult, and doing so could damage the bodies," Kim said. "It would be best to put the vessel in an upright position after all of the bodies have been recovered."

Kim also vowed to consider all possible methods in conducting the search operations, saying that experts from the Netherlands and other countries have been consulted.

"There have been no similar cases abroad," he said. "The experts' common view is that there is no way to overcome the strong currents in the Maenggol Channel and the low visibility there."

Search operations resumed earlier in the day after strong winds forced them to stop for nearly 11 hours.

Still, the search was restricted by strong currents and limited visibility, Coast Guard officials said.

Prosecutors said Sunday that they are looking into paper companies allegedly set up by the owner family of the operator of the ill-fated Sewol as part of their widening investigation into the cause of the deadly accident.

The prosecution suspects that Chonghaejin Marine Co., the ferry's operator, and Yoo Byung-eun, a billionaire whose family controls the firm, set up three paper companies to create slush funds. They said the ship was found to have been poorly inspected.

"We've found at least three companies thought to be bogus firms, which are suspected of raising funds from affiliates under the pretense of consulting costs," an investigator said.

Meanwhile, a joint team of prosecutors and police officers have referred Sewol's disgraced captain Lee Joon-seok and two other crew members to the prosecution for further investigation on charges of neglecting their duties and abandoning the passengers.

 All of the 15 crew members in charge of navigating the ship have been put behind bars, accused of failing to evacuate passengers from the sinking ship and not making efforts to save the passengers.

Thousands of people visited a memorial altar set up at a gym in Ansan, a city just outside Seoul, on Sunday to pay their respects to the more than 110 students and teachers confirmed dead.

Officials said more than 130,000 people have visited the altar over the past five days. (Yonhap)