South Korea's President says the behaviour of the captain and some of the crew on the ferry that sank last week was "akin to murder".
The Sewol ferry capsized during a routine 400km journey from Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju in calm weather on 16 April. Among the 476 passengers and crew were 339 children and teachers from Danwon high school in Ansan, near Seoul, on a school outing.
The confirmed death toll has steadily risen as divers entered the wreck to retrieve bodies. Sixty-four have been recovered, another 240 people are missing and 174 passengers were rescued.
Rescuers search near buoys marking the site of the sinking. Photo: AFP
President Park Geun-Hye, centre, meets with relatives of missing passengers. Photo: AFP
President Park Geun-hye, whose government has faced criticism over its initial response to the disaster, strongly criticised the actions of captain Lee Joon-seok and his crew.
"First and foremost, the actions of the captain and some of the crew are absolutely unacceptable - unforgivable actions that are akin to murder."
All those responsible, including the ferry's owners, crew and inspectors, will be held criminally accountable, she said.
Meanwhile, video footage has emerged of the captain receiving medical treatment following his rescue. It shows the 69-year-old on the floor of a hospital facility on the island of Jindo after the ferry went down. A nurse appears to be checking his blood pressure and shortly afterwards he is seen getting up, the ABC reports.
Mr Lee is alleged to be one of the first people to have escaped the Sewol and has since been arrested on five charges including negligence of duty and abandoning people in need. Two other crew have been arrested, while four more have since been detained for failing to protect passengers.
The captain was not on the bridge when the ship turned. Navigation was in the hands of a 26-year-old third mate who was in charge for the first time in the passage, according to crew members.
Flowers and messages have been left at the gates of Danwon high school. Photo: AFP
Names of the recovered victims have been posted. Photo: AFP
Panic and confusion
Newly released details of conversations between the coastguard and crew on board the ferry reveal panic and confusion on board.
In a transcript of the recorded exchanges, officials urged the crew three times to ensure that passengers were wearing life jackets, while a crew member asked repeatedly if rescue vessels were available if an evacuation was ordered.
Authorities say the final decision on whether to evacuate would have rested with captain Lee Joon-seok. They are examining hundreds of mobile phone messages from the crew and passengers.
Police are hoping to put together a second by second chronology of what was going from those messages. BBC reporter Jonathan Head said he has seen some of them, including one from a student contacting his parents which talks about a loud noise at 8.31am - a full 30 minutes before the crew were contacting authorities and an hour before any evacuation was attempted.
"It does tell you how poor the coordination was and clearly, this cost lives. So many of the students were told to stay put. When the ship went over, they simply couldn't get out."
Investigations are focusing on whether the vessel took too sharp a turn before it started listing and whether an earlier evacuation order could have saved lives. Some experts believe the turn could have dislodged heavy cargo and destabilised the vessel.
The messages and phone calls from those inside paint a picture of people trapped in crowded corridors, unable to escape the sharply-listing ferry.
Details of the panic on the bridge emerged on Sunday, when the coastguard released a transcript of the last communications between the crew and controllers.
At 9.24am - 29 minutes after the Sewol issued its first distress call - a controller said: "Please go out and let the passengers wear life jackets and put on more clothing.''
The unidentified crew member said: "If this ferry evacuates passengers, will you be able to rescue them?"
Relatives have gathered at Jindo Island near the site of the sinking. Photo: AFP
"At least make them wear life rings and make them escape,'' the controller from the Jindo Vessel Traffic Services Centre replied.
As he continued to urge the crew to prepare for evacuation, the crew member twice asks if passengers would be "rescued straight away".
It was not until 9.37am, a few seconds before the last communication, that it became clear to controllers that evacuation had been ordered.
The transcript shows crew on the ship worried there were not enough rescue boats at the scene to take on all the passengers. Witnesses said the captain and some crew members took to rescue boats before the passengers.
