South Korea president apologizes for government response to ferry sinking

President Park Geun-hye apologized Tuesday to families of the 302 victims in a ferry capsize and pledged to revamp safety regulations, as an investigation proceeded into South Korea's worst maritime accident in 21 years.

The government also raised the death toll in what has become a point of national mourning and shame to 193. Most of the dead and missing are high school students.

Park and her government have been criticized over authorities' slow response to the capsized vessel and for lax regulation of the shipping industry.

Harrowing tales of those who drowned have emerged as bodies were recovered. One diver described finding the corpses of a boy and a girl tied together using their life-vests.

Divers are largely using their hands to feel for remaining bodies as they make their way through a maze of dark cabins, stairwells, storage rooms, lounges and restaurants in the submerged ferry, which flipped upside down as it sank April 16. But they must fight strong currents swirling around the ferry and, once inside, overturned furniture, mattresses and other debris floating in the murky, sediment-heavy waters.

Park's apology, and the earlier resignation of her prime minister, comes amid criticism by the victims' relatives that the government did not do enough to protect their loved ones.

Park said at a cabinet meeting at the presidential Blue House that South Korea has "lost many precious lives because of the accident, and I am sorry to the public and am heavy-hearted." She said the government couldn't prevent the accident and "the initial response and remedy were insufficient."

Park had earlier visited a memorial set up in Ansan, the city near Seoul where the high school students are from, to pay her respects to victims. Wearing a black dress and white gloves, she laid flowers at an altar and bowed her head. According to local media, some angry family members of victims shouted at her and demanded an apology. She listened to them for 10 minutes before leaving.

Investigators, meanwhile, are expanding their probe into both the cause of the ship's sinking and the initial response by emergency workers. Officials have searched the two service centers that deal with vessel traffic and that communicated with a crew member on the ferry during the sinking, seized documents and recordings from a coast guard office in Mokpo, and have continued questioning crew members.

Investigations have centered on whether the sinking was caused by human error, mechanical defects or if it was overloaded with cargo.

Investigating prosecutors have detained the captain and other crewmembers who fled the ship, and raided the offices of shipping company Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd and the homes of two brothers who own the largest stakes in the company.

They have also raided the home of Yoo Byeung-eun, the brothers' father. Yoo, through his lawyer, denied any involvement in the running of the shipping company.

Yoo spent four years in jail for fraud in the 1990s.

Prosecutors and South Korea's financial regulators are looking at the shareholding structure of Chonghaejin and at whether money was funneled to overseas units of the group.

They are also looking at its links to a church co-founded by Yoo Byeung-eun and have raided offices in one of the church branches.

The Chief Executive of Chonghaejin, Kim Han-sik, was questioned by prosecutors in the port city of Incheon on Friday, where the shipping company's offices are located.

The ferry’s arrested crewmembers are accused of negligence and of failing to help passengers in need. Capt. Lee Joon-seok initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and took half an hour to issue an evacuation order, by which time the ship was tilting too severely for many passengers to safely escape. Lee told reporters after his arrest that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for passengers' safety in the cold, swift water.

The ferry was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo, according to an executive of the company that loaded it. That far exceeds what the captain claimed in paperwork — 150 cars and 657 tons of other cargo, according to the coast guard — and is more than three times what an inspector who examined the vessel during a redesign last year said it could safely carry.

Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin said that the cause of the sinking could be due to excessive veering, improper stowage of cargo, modifications made to the ship and tidal influence. He said investigators would determine the cause by consulting with experts and using simulations.

Only 174 people survived the sinking, including 22 of the 29 crewmembers.

The government is making initial plans to eventually salvage the ferry, but has indicated it won't do so until search efforts end.

Wire services

SLIDESHOW: SOUTH KOREAN FERRY SINKS