However, no air pocket has been found yet inside the ill-fated ship, the government task force handling the ferry sinking said Thursday.
Divers continued their intensive search for living or dead passengers in third and fourth-deck cabins and a third-deck cafeteria, where many passengers are presumed to have been located at the time of the accident, but failed to find any air pocket, officials said.
The sunken ship will be salvaged "only after the last missing person is found," they said.
No one has been found alive since April 16 when the ferry sank in waters off Jindo on a routine trip south from the port of Incheon, west of Seoul, to Jeju Island.
Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, only 174 people have been rescued. The death toll rose to 159 as of early Thursday morning, with 143 still missing.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com