The confirmed death toll from South Korea's worst ferry accident in over 20 years surpassed 100 on Tuesday, with nearly 200 people still missing amid stepped-up search operations.
The death toll from the 6,825-ton ferry Sewol hit 108 early Tuesday as divers retrieved 21 more bodies as their search focused on decks of the five-story vessel, where most of those unaccounted for are believed to have been trapped.
On the previous day, a total of 28 bodies were recovered from the section.
Divers have established five underwater routes guiding divers to the wreck, and plan to add more to speed up the operation, officials said. The rescue team also dispatched two remotely operated vehicles into the sea for the second day to assist with the search operation.
The operations have transited from rescue to recovery and identification as hopes of finding any survivors were fading rapidly as none of missing passengers have been found alive since the ship sank off the southwestern island of Jindo on Wednesday.
Of the 476 people on board, only 174 passengers, including the ferry's captain and most of its crew, were rescued as the boat listed due to what is believed to have been a faster than usual turn.
While the search had been hampered by bad weather, murky water and strong current, operations are expected to gather steam this week as the weather in the area finally turned favorable.
The government task force team handling the disaster said rescue workers will continue to search around-the-clock as weather conditions have improved, by mobilizing a total of 212 boats, 34 aircraft and 550 rescue workers.
Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to South Korea later this week, the Pentagon on Monday said it is sending a salvage ship, USNS Safeguard, toward the peninsula from Thailand in case it is needed.
USS Bonhomme Richard, an amphibious assault ship, is already helping with the search of survivors.
Authorities earlier said they will lift the ship from the sea only with consent from families of the missing, some of whom may feel a tinge of hope for survivors.
Weather in the area was forecast to be mild, with waves expected to reach between 0.5 and 1 meter, and wind blowing at a speed of 5 to 8 meters per second.
On Monday, family representatives staying in a gymnasium in Jindo Island pressured the rescue team to wrap up the search in the next few days while the weather allowed.
While corpses have been brought to hospitals in nearby port city of Mokpo, bereaved families have struggled to find beds because dozens of bodies have been retrieved from the upturned ship in the past few days.
On Tuesday, family representatives of missing passengers and five government agencies agreed to establish temporary mortuaries at Paengmok Port on Jindo Island for funeral services.
Coast Guard officials have conducted DNA testing to identify the retrieved bodies, comparing samples from victims and their relatives. Such testing has been conducted in a more stringent manner after one of the corpses was sent to a wrong place last week.
But the move sparked angry responses from some families because they considered providing DNA samples as acknowledging that their loved ones are dead. Scuffles broke out in hospitals when authorities asked relatives to prove family relationship before handing over bodies to them.
In response to the backlash, the government task force team said it will simplify the identification process to return the bodies to their families as soon as possible.
While the government announced the ill-fated ship was carrying a total of 476 people, the recent discovery of the body of a Chinese passenger who was not included in the list of passengers fueled doubt over the counting.
The government had announced different numbers of passengers on board and repeatedly changed the number of survivors in the bungled disaster response in the early stages of the ship sinking.
On Monday, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries also corrected its earlier conclusion that the sunken ferry made a sharp turn shortly before the disaster.
Data from the Sewol's automatic identification system revealed that the vessel made a J-shaped turn, not a 115-degree sharp turn, before listing heavily and ultimately sinking last week, the ministry said.
Bodies of 3 foreign passengers found in sunken S.Korean ferry
The bodies of two missing Chinese passengers and another foreign citizen aboard a capsized South Korean ferry were recovered by rescuers on Monday.
Two of the victims were identified as Chinese men according to their identification cards while another male victim's nationality remained unknown. The death toll has risen to 104 after the 6,825- ton "Sewol" sank off South Korea's southwest coast Wednesday.
One of the Chinese victim was found in waters where the ferry sank at 19:10 local time, the other was recovered inside the ship at 17:40 local time, according to South Korea's Coast Guard.
Another male foreign victim was found at 18:10 local time inside the ship. The coast guard described him as a foreign student according to his curly hair, clothes and other traits in outer appearance.
The Chinese embassy has confirmed that four Chinese nationals - two men and two women - were among the missing passengers aboard the ill-fated ship. South Korean Coast Guard confirmed that a Russian student was also among the missing ones.
A total of 104 passengers have been officially listed as dead so far, 174 have been rescued and 198 are still missing.
The passengers aboard the ship included 325 students and 15 teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan, a Seoul suburb, which, according to the Chinese embassy, is home to many Chinese nationals.
S. Korean president: Ferry crew actions 'murderous'
South Korean President Park Geun-hye strongly criticized the captain and some of his crew members of the ferry Sewol on Monday for leaving hundreds of passengers behind and deserting the sinking ship, saying what they did amounted to an act of "murder," local media reported.
Park also vowed to uncover all irregularities involved in the ferry's operations and force those responsible to take "criminal and civil" responsibilities regardless of their ranks.
At a meeting with senior aides, the president acknowledged there were serious problems with the government's initial response to the disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing.
"Above all, the conduct of the captain and some crew members is unfathomable from the viewpoint of common sense, and it was like an act of murder that cannot and should not be tolerated," Park told senior secretaries, quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
Fears rise, hopes fade for S.Korean ferry sinking disaster
Fears that the South Korean ferry sinking accident could become one of the country's worst maritime disasters in two decades have been rising as rescue operations are protracted.
The seventh day into search on Tuesday, 302 people have been left dead or missing for long. Though 174 people were rescued shortly after the passenger ship Sewol sank on April 16, there have been no survivors or survival signaling reported since.
A maritime accident tended to turn catastrophic as most passengers face hypothermia resulting in death amid the prolonged or delayed rescue operations.
Divers began entering and searching inside the submerged vessel from Monday, but it led to a surge in death toll. At least 87 people have died, with 215 others still missing. On Monday alone, 28 bodies were retrieved from the ferry.
Hopes were fading among family members of the missing as growing bodies were pulled out of the vessel amid the protracted rescue operations. >>>More
4 ferry crew members detained
A South Korean prosecutor says four more crew members from a sunken ferry have been detained on allegations of failing to protect passengers.
Senior prosecutor Ahn Sang-don told reporters Monday that two first mates, one second mate and a chief engineer are also accused of abandoning the ship.
Ahn says prosecutors are considering whether to ask a court for a formal arrest warrant that would allow for a longer period of investigation. South Koreans can only be detained for 48 hours without a court-issued formal arrest warrant.
The ferry's captain and two other crewmembers were previously formally arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need.
