Divers retrieve more bodies in South Korea ferry disaster bringing death toll to 275
Two more bodies pulled from the wreck of the Sewol as divers battle deteriorating conditions within the inverted vessel and worsening weather
Divers have retrieved two more bodies from the wreck of the South Korean ferry that sank last month, as conditions on the ship further deteriorated, officials said on Saturday.
The bodies were found late on Friday in the inverted, submerged ship, bringing the confirmed death toll from the April 16 disaster to 275, coastguard spokesman Ko Myung-suk told journalists. Twenty nine are still unaccounted for.
Divers have now swept through most of the ship, which is resting on its side at a depth of more than 40 metres off the country’s southern coast.
But as days go by, they are retrieving fewer and fewer bodies.
The divers have also reported that partition walls on the ship have started warping and are at risk of collapsing, which would further complicate their work, a government task force said in a statement.
The divers have been under immense pressure from the authorities and the victims’ families to retrieve all the trapped bodies as quickly as possible.
