Coastguard Spokesman

The overturned boat was spotted on Sunday afternoon, drifting in waters north of the islands by a Japanese navy patrol in the area, coastguard spokesman Keisuke Nakao told AFP.

The bodies of around 40 people were found on Wednesday in the hold of a migrant boat off the coast of Libya, the Swedish coastguard said.

Divers were battling atrocious weather conditions and powerful swell on Sunday in their grim search for corpses believed trapped in the sunken South Korean ferry, a coastguard spokesman said.

The overturned boat was spotted on Sunday afternoon, drifting in waters north of the islands by a Japanese navy patrol in the area, coastguard spokesman Keisuke Nakao told AFP.

The bodies of around 40 people were found on Wednesday in the hold of a migrant boat off the coast of Libya, the Swedish coastguard said.

Divers were battling atrocious weather conditions and powerful swell on Sunday in their grim search for corpses believed trapped in the sunken South Korean ferry, a coastguard spokesman said.