Emergency services are continuing to search for nearly 300 people missing after a ferry carrying more than 470 people sank off South Korea.

Officials say 179 people have been rescued. Most of the passengers were students from the same high school.

Teams used lights to search overnight but strong currents have hampered divers' efforts to enter the ship, where it is thought many were trapped.

Rescue teams are frantically trying to find any survivors, as Jon Brain reports

At least nine people are confirmed to have died, with dozens more injured.

The vessel was travelling from Incheon port, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.

It is not yet clear what caused the ship to list at a severe angle and flip over, leaving only a small part of its hull visible above water.

(Source: BBC)