BBC Online :Bad weather, murky water and strong currents are hampering the search for survivors of the South Korean ferry disaster.Emergency services are still searching for nearly 300 people missing after a ship carrying more than 470 people sank.Officials say 179 people have been rescued. Most of the passengers were pupils at the same high school.South Korea’s president visited the wreck and urged rescuers to “hurry”.Park Geun-hye said that time was running out and that every minute and every second was critical.At least nine people are confirmed to have died, with dozens more injured.South Korea’s Yonhap news agency has reported that one Russian and two Chinese are also among the missingMilitary divers have been fighting high wind and waves to try to access the vessel. Three divers were swept away in recent attempts but were rescued by a fishing boat.Naval and coastguard vessels used floodlights and flares, to maintain a search now involving more than 500 divers, 169 vessels and 29 aircraft.But distraught relatives gathered in a gymnasium on nearby Jindo island insisted more should be done, and vented their grief and frustration to anyone who would listen.”Get my child out of that ship! Dead or alive,” one distraught father repeatedly shouted to rescue and local government officials.”The vessel was travelling from Incheon port, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.Some reports say the ferry went off its course and passengers’ relatives are also questioning the role of the captain, who’s being interviewed by police.It is not yet clear what caused the ship to list at a severe angle and flip over, leaving only a small part of its hull visible above water, but some experts have suggested the ship may have hit an underwater obstacle.The captain was being questioned, Yonhap news agency reported. “I am really sorry and deeply ashamed.
