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South Korea ferry death toll reaches 150

TOKYO, April 23 (KUNA) -- The death toll from a sunken ferry off South Korea's south coast jumped to 150 on Wednesday as Coast Guard, Navy and civilian divers recovered the bodies from the cabins, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency reported.
Some 150 passengers are still missing, a week after the country's worst maritime disaster in two decades.
The rescue team halted and resumed operations many times during the night due to relatively strong currents, said officials of the government task force team handling the disaster.
The operations have transitioned from rescue to recovery and identification as hopes of finding any survivors have faded rapidly considering that no passenger has been found alive since April 16, the day of the sinking.
Of the 476 people on board, only 174 passengers, including the ferry's captain and most of its crew, were rescued, seven crew members were formally arrested on charges of negligence and violation of maritime law in connection with the sinking of the 6,825-ton ferry.
The seven include the ship's captain, who is accused of abandoning his passengers, mostly high-school students on a school excursion. (end) mk.ss