(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Jindo South Korea April 24 -Death toll in South Korea's ferry sinking disaster continued to rise to 171 on Thursday but those recovered from the sunken ferry grew at a relatively slower pace as search operations were hampered by the unexpectedly swift currents.
The ninth day into search 12 more bodies were retrieved from the submerged vessel Wednesday raising the total death toll to 171. The number of missing was 131 with those rescued remaining fixed at 174.
On Wednesday alone 38 bodies were discovered from the submerged vessel with 36 people found Tuesday and 28 others retrieved on Monday. Rescue operations were suspended for about six hours in the afternoon as tidal currents near the sunken vessel became faster than expected.
Some 40 family members of the victims visited the office of the government-wide disaster response headquarters at around 1 p.m. to protest against the sluggish rescue operations.
Weather forecast showed that tidal currents near Jindo Island where the 6825-ton ferry Sewol capsized and sank on April 16 would become slower for four days from Monday.
Divers were known to have begun plunging into the waters at about 3 p.m. to enter the vessel and search bodies or possible survivors believed to be trapped in passenger cabins on the third and fourth floors of the five-story ship. They became fatigued due to the protracted underwater operations. One navy diver got decompression sickness while diving for a long time.
Around 700 coast guard navy special forces firefighting and private divers were conducting search operations in the tough and murky waters the coast guard said.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.