Four dead, 284 missing in S. Korea ferry sinking

National disaster agency officials said 174 people had been rescued, leaving 284 "unaccounted for". There were four confirmed deaths, including a female crew member and a student.

There are concerns the death toll could rise sharply. The 6,825-tonne Sewol listed violently, capsized and finally sank -- all within two hours of sending a distress signal at 9:00am (0000 GMT).

"I'm afraid there's little chance for those trapped inside still to be alive," one senior rescue team official, Cho Yang-Bok, told YTN television as divers struggled to access the submerged multi-deck ferry.

Dramatic television footage showed terrified passengers wearing life jackets clambering into inflatable boats with water lapping over the rails of the vessel as it sank 20 kilometres (13 miles) off the southern island of Byungpoong.

Some slid down the steeply inclined side of the ferry and into the water as rescuers, including the crew of what appeared to be a small fishing boat, pulled them to safety.

As night fell the coastguard said the rescue operation was continuing using floodlights and underwater flares.

"We won't give up, although the situation is extremely worrying," a coastguard spokesman said.

Several rescued passengers said they had initially been told to remain in their cabins and seats, but then the ferry listed hard to one side, triggering panic.

Told 'not to move'

"The crew kept telling us not to move," one male survivor told the YTN news channel.

"Then it suddenly shifted over and people slid to one side and it became very difficult to get out," he added.

The passengers included 325 students from a high school in Ansan just south of Seoul, who were travelling with their teachers to the popular island resort of Jeju.

"I feel so pained to see students on a school trip... face such a tragic accident. I want you to pour all your energy into this mission," President Park Geun-Hye said on a visit to the disaster agency's situation room in Seoul.

Many of the survivors were plucked from the water by fishing and other commercial vessels who were first on the scene before a flotilla of coastguard and navy ships arrived, backed by more than a dozen helicopters.

Lee Gyeong-Og, the vice minister of security and public administration, said 178 divers, including a team of South Korean navy SEALS, were working at the site, but low water visibility and strong currents were hampering their efforts.

The US 7th Fleet sent an amphibious assault ship on patrol in the area to help.

One local official, who had taken a boat to the site an hour after the distress signal was sent, said he was "very concerned" about those still missing.

"The ship was already almost totally submerged when I got there. A lot of people must have been trapped," the official, who declined to be identified, told AFP by phone.

The cause of the accident in fine weather was not immediately clear, although rescued passengers reported the ferry coming to a sudden, shuddering halt -- indicating it may have run aground.

'A big thumping sound'

"I heard a big thumping sound and the boat suddenly started to tilt," one rescued student said.

Another spoke of luggage and vending machines crashing down on passengers as the vessel tipped over.

"Everyone was screaming and a lot of people were bleeding badly," he said.

Distraught parents gathered at the high school in Ansan, desperate for news, with some yelling at school officials while others repeatedly tried to call their children's mobiles.

"I'm so worried about my son," said one father, Lee Ki-Hong. "I texted him an hour before the ship sank, but there has been no reply," he told YTN.

Survivors were taken to a gymnasium on nearby Jindo island, where relatives of the missing, wrapped in blankets against the cold, were holding what looked set to be a night-long vigil on the quay of the main harbour.

Three giant floating cranes had been despatched to the site and would begin operations to raise the submerged vessel tomorrow, officials said.

Scores of ferries ply the waters between the South Korean mainland and its multiple offshore islands every day, and accidents are relatively rare.