Members of South Korean Navy's Ship Salvage Unit (front) on a rubber boat and a naval patrol ship patrol to rescue possible survivors from sunken naval ship Cheonan off Baengnyeongdo, an island near the border with North Korea, March 27, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
SEOUL, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean military on Sunday stepped up its efforts to rescue 46 missing sailors from the warship that sank later Friday in waters off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, but the operation has not made any progress.
According to the state-run broadcaster KBS, a 86-member Navy rescue team has launched underwater operations earlier the day, trying to determine the exact location of the sunken ship and confirm whether there are some survivors.
After repeated failures caused by rough waves and low temperature, the military divers finally located the front of the ship around 19:57 p.m. local time. The ship is believed to have been split into two by an unexplained explosion.
Meanwhile, a 3,000-ton search-and-rescue vessel and two 700-ton minesweepers equipped with sonar detection equipment also have been sent to the scene of the incident to help the operations of the diver team.
There are a total of 104 crew members onboard when the ship sank, only 58 of them have been rescued, the other 46 remain missing though rescue efforts continue. The underwater investigation also has not yield any progress due to bad conditions such as high waves and strong winds in the area.
