Updated
At least six people are dead and hundreds are missing after a ferry sank off the southern coast of South Korea with 462 passengers and crew.
South Korea's coastguard has confirmed 179 have been rescued from the sinking ferry; however, it said hundreds are still unaccounted for.
Coastguards and navy divers have resumed the search for around 280 people still missing in the early hours of Thursday morning. A US navy ship has also been sent to the scene to help with the search.
Many passengers are believed to be trapped inside the ship.
Authorities will also be seeking answers to many questions surrounding Wednesday's accident, notably what caused the Sewol vessel to list and then flip over entirely, leaving only a small section of its hull above water.
Rescue efforts on Thursday could be be hampered by difficult weather conditions, amid forecasts of rain, strong winds and fog.
South Korea's ministry of security and public administration earlier reported that 368 people had been rescued and about 100 were still missing, but later said those numbers had been miscalculated.
Distraught parents wait for news
Most of the passengers were teenagers and their teachers on a trip from Danwon High School in Ansan, a suburb in Seoul.
One of the six people confirmed to have died was a student on the school trip.
Parents of missing children faced an agonising wait for news as they gathered in Jindo, the nearest town to where the ferry capsized.
"My tears have dried up," one mother said.
"I am holding on to hope. I hope the government does everything to bring these kids back to their mothers."
Distraught parents of the students had gathered at Danwon High School in the morning when news of the disaster broke.
"It is as if the world is falling apart. I really want to go now to see my son," Park Seong-ho, the father of a 17-year-old boy who had not been in contact, said before leaving for Jindo.
TV footage showed a chaotic scene in the school's auditorium, with parents yelling at school officials and frantically trying to make phone calls to their children.
"I talked to my daughter. She said she had been rescued along with 10 other students," one mother told the YTN news channel.
"They said they had jumped into the water before getting rescued. One was injured in the leg and is being treated in hospital."
Clues sought
The 6,825-tonne ferry was sailing from the western port of Incheon to Jeju island, which is known as "South Korea's Hawaii" and is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations.
The ferry sent out a distress signal at 9:00am local time after it ran into trouble 20 kilometres off the island of Byungpoong.
It is not clear why the Sewol ferry listed heavily on to its side and capsized in apparently calm conditions, but some survivors spoke of what appeared to be an impact prior to the accident.
"It was fine. Then the ship went 'boom' and there was a noise of cargo falling," Cha Eun-ok, who was on the deck of the ferry taking photographs at the time, said.
"The on-board announcement told people to stay put ... people who stayed are trapped," she said.
We heard a big thumping sound and the boat stopped.
Passenger
The rescue operation involved almost 100 ships, as well as 18 helicopters.
According to a coastguard official in Jindo, the waters where the ferry capsized have some of the strongest tides of any off South Korea's coast.
This means divers were prevented from entering the mostly submerged ship for several hours.
Footage broadcast on television showed rescuers pulling passengers in life vests out of the water as their boats bobbed beside the ferry's hull.
"We heard a big thumping sound and the boat stopped," one passenger told the YTN news channel.
"The boat is tilting and we have to hold onto something to stay seated."
Heavy fog had set in overnight in the area, leading to cancellations of many passenger ferry services to islands.
However, news reports said visibility in the area was fair.
Map: The ferry had been travelling from the western port of Incheon to the southern resort island of Jeju
AFP/Reuters
Topics: maritime, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, korea-republic-of, asia
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