Diver dies during search of South Korean ferry Sewol

SEOUL

A South Korean diver searching sunken ferry the Sewol died Tuesday after falling unconscious during a dive.

The man lost contact with colleagues 5 minutes after entering 25-meter deep water while attempting to search for the bodies of the 40 people still believed to be trapped inside the vessel. 

Of the 476 people on board, only 174 survived, the disaster so far claiming 262 lives.

South Korean coast guard officials said Tuesday that the search had been temporarily suspended following the diver's death.

The ferry sank April 16 with 476 people on board – mostly high school students - on route from Incheon port off the nation's southwestern coast to the resort island of Jeju.

With most of the 6,825-ton ship’s hull lying on a muddy seabed, the search-and-rescue operation for missing passengers has since turned into a grueling recovery of corpses, with divers fighting rapid currents and having to smash through closed cabin doors blocked by debris.

Government task force spokesman Ko Myung-seok said Tuesday that divers had searched 64 of the ship's 111 areas where victims are suspected to be, and now planned to revisit those areas to examine them further.

Nets have been strengthened around the scene amid concerns that currents may have pulled some bodies out to sea. Personal belongings and bedding has been found as far as 30 kilometers away.

Coast guards have expressed reservations that not all victims may be recovered.

The Sewol has been estimated to have been carrying around 3,600 tons of cargo, more than three times its limit, when it capsized. Around the time it began sinking, the ship made a 45-degree turn, crew reportedly saying something had gone wrong with the steering.

The disaster stands to rank among the worst - if not the worst - of the Asian nation's shipping disasters. The last major ferry disaster in the country was in 1993, when 292 of 362 passengers died in the Yellow Sea in North Jeolla Province.

englishnews@aa.com.tr