4 dead, 291 missing in S. Korea ferry sinking

South Korean rescuers, including elite navy SEAL divers, worked frantically under floodlights Wednesday to find nearly 300 people missing after a ferry sank with 459 on board, mostly high school students bound for a holiday island. Lee Gyeong-Og, the vice minister of security and public administration, said 164 people had been rescued, leaving 291 "unaccounted for". There were four confirmed deaths, including a female crew member and a student. There are fears the confirmed death toll could rise sharply. The 6,825-tonne Sewol listed violently, capsized and finally sank -- all within two hours of sending a distress signal at 9:00am (0000 GMT). "I'm afraid there's little chance for those trapped inside still to be alive," one senior rescue team official, Cho Yang-Bok, told YTN television as teams of divers struggled to access the submerged, multi-storey ferry, according to AFP.