Death toll has risen to seven in a South Korean fishing ship sinking accident in the Bering Sea as six more bodies were recovered in waters near the site, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday.
Four more bodies were recovered in waters near the sunken South Korean vessel Oryong 501 at about 11:50 a.m. local time around one and a half hours after two bodies were found near the site, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The four bodies include one South Korean, one Filipino and two Indonesians. The former two bodies are believed to be a South Korean and an Indonesian, respectively.
The 1,753-ton fishing ship, which was catching pollack, sank in the western part of the Bering Sea near Russia on Monday when one person was confirmed dead and seven were rescued.
The crew on board the ship included 11 South Koreans, 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos and one Russian inspector. As of Wednesday, seven were confirmed dead, with 46 still unaccounted for.
The death toll is expected to increase further as the waters are famous for cold water and bad weather conditions, which are hampering rescue operations.
The 35-year-old vessel is believed to begin listing after bad weather caused seawater to flood the storage parts of it.
The ship left the country's southern port city of Busan on July 10 for the Bering Sea to catch pollack.