Many of the children's bodies recovered from the sunken South Korea ferry in the past two days had broken fingers, according to reports - suggesting the victims had frantically tried to climb walls or floors to escape in their final moments.
As they continue their desperate search for the hundreds still missing, South Korean divers have described having to swim though dark, cold waters into the sunken ferry, feeling for children's bodies with their hands in a maze of cabins, corridors and upturned decks.
"We have to touch everything with our hands,” said diver Hwang Dae-sik, whose team had retrieved 14 bodies so far.
“This is the most gruelling and heartbreaking job of my career," he told Reuters news agency.
Divers look for people believed to have been trapped in the sunken ferry Sewol in the water off the southern coast near Jindo
Around 152 people are still missing from the ferry, with 150 confirmed dead.
Four more crew members from the ferry that sank last week have been detained by authorities, bringing the total number of arrests to 11 - out of 29 crew members, 29 survived the disaster.
On Wednesday, a memorial service took place outside the school in Seoul which many of the victims, mostly teenagers on a school trip, attended.
Authorities have issued 30-day travel bans to more than 70 executives connected with the ferry compay Chonghaejin and authorities will make "efforts to retrieve profits made out of criminal acts and track down hidden assets to support financial compensations for lawsuits by families of the victims and the missing," a prosecutor told AFP.
Passengers are believed to have been told to remain in their cabins as the ship listed, with about 20 other emergency calls from children on board the ship, the BBC reported.
