7 dead: Desperate search for survivors continues

At least seven people are confirmed to have died and scores missing in South Korean ferry disaster. Officials say dozens more people were injured and 179 have been rescued since the ferry, with 475 passengers and crew on board, leaned to its one side two days ago. Most of the passengers were students and teachers from the same high school on a field trip. Emergency teams have been using floodlights and flares to search the vessel for survivors since Wednesday night. Officials confirmed seven deaths, with about 60 injured. Emergency services are continuing to search for nearly 300 people missing after the vessel, travelling from Incheon Port, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju, sank in the sea. The coastguard said on Thursday that rescuers had found another body floating in the sea, raising the confirmed death toll from six to seven. The latest figures say 475 people were on board with 289 still unaccounted for. The ferry sent a distress call at around 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) after it began to shake and take on water, about 20km (12 miles) off the island of Byungpoong. Survivors say they heard a loud thud, before the boat began to shake and tilt. It is not yet clear what caused the ship to list at a severe angle and flip over, leaving only a small part of its hull visible above water. Rescue efforts are concentrated on the ship’s wreckage, which sank in about 30m (98ft) of water. Many passengers are thought to be trapped inside. One senior emergency official was quoted as saying it was unlikely the remaining passengers would be found alive, according to BBC and AP.