S Korea ferry captain arrested, divers spot bodies

Investigators on Saturday arrested the captain accused of abandoning the South Korean ferry that capsized three days ago with 476 people on board, as divers finally accessed the submerged vessel and spotted bodies inside. Lee Joon-seok and two of his crew were taken into police custody in the early hours of the morning, charged with negligence and failing to secure the safety of passengers in violation of maritime law. The 69-year-old captain has been severely criticised for abandoning his ship as it sank on Wednesday morning off the southwest coast while hundreds remained trapped on board, most of them children on a high school holiday trip. Twenty-nine people have been confirmed dead in the disaster, but 273 are still missing. As the arrests were being made, dive teams who had spent two days vainly battling powerful currents and near zero visibility, finally penetrated the passenger decks of the 6,825-tonne Sewol, according to AFP.