Nearly 300 people were missing and four confirmed dead after a passenger ferry carrying hundreds of teenagers sank Wednesday off the southern coast of South Korea, dpa reported. Rescue workers said the chances were slim to find any more survivors in deeps waters as cold as 12 degrees, emergency responders were quoted as saying by The Korea Herald newspaper. Nearly two-thirds of the 462 passengers who had been on board are feared to be trapped inside the now-submerged Sewol ferry, the coast guard said. Rescuers plucked 174 people from the ship about 20 kilometres off the island of Jindo, the government said in its latest tally. More than 50 were injured, and 284 people remained missing. The cause of the sinking was not yet known, but survivors said they heard a loud noise just before the vessel started to tilt.
