SEOUL — The ferry, carrying 476 passengers, many of them schoolchildren, and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju.

Some 174 people have been rescued and hopes were fading for those still missing.

The divers saw the bodies in a submerged cabin where many of the children were believed to be trapped, but were unable to break the glass to retrieve them.

The discovery comes amid stalled rescue efforts due to strong tides as hundreds of navy, coastguard and private divers scour the site, 25 km (15 miles) off the southwest coast of South Korea.

Anger mounts after bodies found

Angry relatives of more than 200 people, mostly children, missing inside a sunken South Korea ferry demanded authorities act now to raise the vessel and hit out at officials, including the country's president, as hopes of finding survivors faded.

Investigations into the sinking, South Korea's worst maritime accident in 21 years based on possible casualties, have centred on crew negligence, problems with cargo stowage and structural defects of the vessel, although the ship appears to have passed all of its safety and insurance checks.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent his condolences to South Korea during his speech on the Eurasia tunnel project in Istanbul's Bosporus.