JINDO, South Korea, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Death toll from a sunken South Korean ferryrose to 171 on Thursday, but bodies recovered from the ship grew at a slower pace assearch operations were hampered by unexpectedly swift currents.
On the ninth day since the ferry carrying 476 people capsized off the country'ssouthwestern coast on April 16, 12 more bodies were retrieved from the submerged vessel,raising the death toll to 171, with 131 still missing and those rescued remaining unchangedat 174.
On Wednesday alone, 38 bodies were recovered from the submerged hull, with 36 foundTuesday and 28 others retrieved Monday.
Rescue operations were suspended for around six hours in the afternoon as tidal currentsbecame faster than expected.
Meanwhile, some 40 family members of the victims protested against the sluggish rescueoperations at the office of the government disaster response headquarters.
Weather forecast showed that tidal currents off Jindo Island, where the 6,825-ton ferrySewol sank, would slower for four days from Monday.
Divers have been searching bodies or possible survivors believed to be trapped inpassenger cabins on the third and fourth floors of the five-storey ship.
Koh Myung-seok, spokesman of the disaster response headquarters, told reporters that itwas very tough for divers to break into the cabins, saying divers had to clear up junks,including beds and other furniture, in every cabin.
Among three blocks of the vessel, search for cabins on the starboard side were completedWednesday, and divers were focusing on the middle of the ship. Cabins on the port side hadyet to be reached.
Divers became fatigued due to the protracted underwater operations. One navy diver gotdecompression sickness while diving for a long time.
Around 700 divers are conducting search operations in the tough and murky waters, thecoast guard said.
In addition, all surviving sailors are widely expected to receive criminal penalties as four of11 arrested crew members have already faced criminal charges.
A special investigation team arrested four more sailors Thursday after taking seven sailorsinto custody.
The 69-year-old captain was arrested on April 19 on five charges including negligence ofduty along with the third mate who steered the ship when the accident occurred.
Four more crew members, including two first mates, one second mate and one chiefengineer, were arrested Monday for their role in the deadly incident.
The remaining four sailors were widely expected to be arrested soon.
The 15 surviving sailors have been criticized for fleeing the sinking vessel without makingefforts to save passengers.
Prosecutors questioned eight officials of the company responsible for safety checks of thesubmerged ferry.
Prosecutors on Wednesday raided the office of the sunken ferry operator, CheonghaejinMarine, under suspicion that it had illegally modified the ferry to expand passenger cabinsand overloaded cargo.
