S Korea to arrest remaining ferry crew

Warrants for the arrest of the remaining crew members of a sunken South Korean ferry are to be issued while the search for bodies was suspended due to bad weather.

The Sewol's captain, Lee Joon-Seok, and 10 crew members have already been arrested on charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.

"We are waiting for arrest warrants to be issued for the remaining four crew members," prosecutor Yang Jong-Jin said on Saturday.

Arrests would see all 15 of the surviving crew in custody.

The confirmed death toll stood Saturday at 187, with 115 unaccounted for - many bodies are believed trapped in the ferry that capsized on April 16 with 476 people on board.

The ship's captain has been sharply criticised for delaying the evacuation order until the ferry was listing so badly that escape was almost impossible.

Prosecutors have raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator, the Chonghaejin Marine Company, as part of an overall probe into corrupt management.

The widening investigation has also seen travel bans put on eight current and former executives of the Korea Register of Shipping - the body responsible for issuing marine safety certificates.

Concerns are growing among anguished families that the bodies of those who died may never be found as bad weather set in.

A looming storm and high tides put a temporary halt to operations to recover the remains of those still missing over a week after the disaster.

"Over the weekend, strong wind and rain is expected in the Jindo area," a coastguard spokesman said.

"As efforts to find the missing people are becoming protracted, there are growing concerns among their families that bodies might be lost for good," he said.

Making up the bulk of the passengers on the 6825 tonne Sewol when it sank were 325 high school students - around 250 of whom are either confirmed or presumed dead.

Although all hope of finding survivors has been extinguished, there is still anger and deep frustration among relatives of the missing over the pace of the recovery operation.

Frogmen have battled strong currents, poor visibility and blockages caused by floating furniture as they have tried to get inside the upturned vessel, which rests on a silty seabed.

Around a quarter of the 187 dead recovered so far have been found in waters outside the sunken vessel, and there are fears that some of the missing may have drifted free from the wreck.

That could be exacerbated if the sea is churned by the gathering storm, scattering bodies.