Reclusive patriarch of South Korean ferry company dubbed ‘the millionaire with no face’ is raided by police as it’s revealed the doomed vessel was THREE times over its maximum load



Yoo Byung-eun's two sons are majority shareholder of Cheonghaejin Marine Co. which owned the ferry

Byung-eun is known as the 'millionaire with no face' because he has rarely been pictured

Artistic alter-ego is believed to be photographer named 'Ahae' whose work has been exhibited across the globe



Prosecutors investigating funds which were transferred from a church to the company



Byung-eun's Seoul home was raided yesterday as well as affiliate companies and a church linked to the corporation



It is believed many of the pupils - told not to evacuate for their own safety - were climbing the walls or floors

Bodies of boy and girl who tied lifejackets together so that they would not float apart were found today



Official death toll reached 171 today and 143 still missing as divers continue their search



Cargo on board was three times recommended maximum load, according to one report



Chonghaejin’s audit report for 2014 shows that the company spent just $521 on crew training

Classes resumed today at Danwon High School and pupils are receiving sessions on trauma and coping with grief




Police have raided the home of the patriarch of the family who own the South Korean ferry which sank killing hundreds of children, as it emerged the doomed vessel was overloaded by up to three times its maximum capacity.

Yoo Byung-eun, dubbed 'the millionaire with no face,' is in fact a billionaire whose family owns the Cheonghaejin Marine Co., the corporation behind the ferry, the Korean Yonhap News agency reports. His two sons own a combined 39 per cent stake in I-One-I Holdings Co, which controls the company



Bizarrely, Mr Yoo is also a renowned nature photographer who works under the pseudonym Ahae.

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Pictured: Yoo Byung-eun whose two sons own Chonghaejin Marine Co. the company to which the Sewol ferry belonged. Mr Yoo is a recluse and known as the 'millionaire with no face' in South Korea

Police were seen leaving the home of Yoo Byung-eun in Seoul following a raid last night. Prosecutors are also looking into funds which were transferred from a religious group to the Chonghaejin Marine Co, Yonhap News Agency reported

Last night, police were seen leaving Mr Yoo's home with cardboard boxes and a church which Mr Yoo is said to have an interest in.

Today, Yonhap News Agency said the prosecution was also investigating funds which had been transferred from a religious group, the Evangelical Baptist Church, to the Cheonghaejin Marine Co.

Cheonghaejin's president has apologised for the tragedy.



The Wall Street Journal reported today that the ship was loaded with 3,608 tones of cargo on the fatal journey - three times the recommended weight of 987 tons.



Coast guard officials said that they would not be able to confirm the quantity of cargo on the boat until it was lifted from the water.



CNN reported that changes were made to the Sewol boat in 2013 and that during the renovations, the ferry's capacity was increased from 804 to 921.

Renovations made included changes to the ferry's top floor to accommodate a further 117 passengers. Investigations are now underway to ascertain whether the changes would have heightened the possibility of the ferry capsizing.

Speaking to CNN, Kim Yong-rok, an opposition lawmaker who represents Jindo, the island near where the Sewol went under, told the broadcaster that he believed the extensions to the boat could have raised the ferry's centre of gravity.



Time Magazine said that the captain had asked for repairs to be made to the steering gear of the ship on April 1 but the repairs did not happen.



Chonghaejin’s audit report for 2014 shows that the company spent just $521 on crew training, including evacuation drills.



A lawyer for Mr Yoo's son said: 'Yoo and his family will take all legal and social responsibility for this tragic accident if they have to as major stakeholders of the company'.



The revelations come on the same day as the bodies of a boy and girl who had tied their life jacket cords together so that they would not float apart were recovered.

The diver who found the bodies said he had to separate the two because he could not carry two corpses up to the surface at the same time.



'I started to cry thinking that they didn't want to leave each other,' he told the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper on the island of Jindo near where the ferry went down.

An investigator leaves the house of Yoo Byung-eun with a cardboard box. Some 20 affiliate offices and the Evangelical Baptist Church in Yongsan, Seoul, are also said to have been raided

Yesterday, investigators also raided the head office of Cheonghaejin, based in the coastal city of Incheon, west of Seoul.



Some 20 affiliate offices and the Evangelical Baptist Church in Yongsan, Seoul, are also said to have been raided.

Prosecutors also said today that two shipping watchdogs had been searched, the Korea Shipping Association and the Korea Register of Shipping, as part of their expanded investigation into the disaster. Yonhap News Agency said they would investigate whether ship safety certificates on the Sewol were in order.



'The objective was to investigate malpractices and corruption in the entire shipping industry,' Song In-taek, head deputy chief prosecutor at Incheon District Prosecution Service, told reporters.

The Yonhap News Agency said that prosecutors are looking into leads that the religious group may have exercised influence over the Cheonghaejin Marine Co.'s management.



The Evangelical Baptist Church , of whic h Mr Yoo has connections, is believed to have been founded by Mr Yoo 's father-in law Kwon Sin-chan .



The church has some 20,000 followe rs including senior officials from the Cheonghaejin Marine Co and many of the Sewol's crew.

Mr Yoo has also been linked to a religious cult named 'Odaeyang'.

In 1987, more than 30 people from the group were found dead, bound and gagged. The deaths were investigated as a mass murder-suicide.



Investigators concluded that there was no evidence tying the deaths to Mr Yoo.



Authorities have reported that the Cheonghaejin Marine Co which owned the Sewol was riddled with debt. Mr Yoo spent four years behind bars in the 1990s for fraud.

An official at the Financial Supervisory Service told Reuters that the financial regulator is investigating whether Chonghaejin Marine or Mr Yoo's family engaged in any illegal foreign exchange transactions. The source did not elaborate further on the claim.



Rescue workers are pictured against the backdrop of a sunset in Jindo. Relatives have blasted a top coastguard official saying that not enough is being done to retrieve bodies still trapped in the vessel Two buoys have been installed to mark the vessel in the water off the southern coast near Jinto. Divers and search parties are still monitoring the scene searching for the victims of the disaster This giant crane will lift the sunken Sewol ferry from the water. The search continues as pupils at Danwon High School returned to the school today

Students returned to Danwon High School in Ansan south of Seoul today. It is the first time pupils have returned to the school since the disaster. Pupils will be given sessions on coping with loss and trauma and psychiatrists and counselors will also be at the school

Tributes to the victims of the sunken ferry were posted outside Danwon High School today. A hearse carrying the body of a victim is seen arriving at the memorial site

Yellow ribbons and a flower decorate the main gate of Danwon High School in Ansan, south of Seoul today. The ribbons are signs of hope for safe return of missing students aboard the sunken ferry

The revelations come after local media reported yesterday that many of the children who were killed broke their fingers because they were trying so desperately to escape.

Today, Reuters reported that the body of the boy who first raised the alarm that the boat was in trouble has been recovered. His parents have identified the body and the boy's clothing but a DNA test has yet to confirm his identity.

The boy called the emergency 119 number which put him through to the fire service, which in turn forwarded him to the coastguard two minutes later. That was followed by about 20 other calls from children on board the ship to the emergency number.

A hearse arrives carrying the body of a student. Pupils from Danwon High School in Ansan are seen returning to school following the tragedy which struck last week

A relative of a passenger who was on the Sewol ferry weeps as he reads messages to those who are still missing

A female relative of a passenger onboard the Sewol walks down the jetty at the port in Jindo South Korea. Yellow ribbons have been tied to the barrier at the port to wish for safe return of those who are still missing

Relatives on board a ship visit the site of the sunken Sewol ferry where hundreds are still missing

Local media reported yesterday that the tragic youngsters may have been trying frantically to climb the walls or floors of the doomed vessel Sewol in their last moments.

Divers have been swimming through cold, murky waters into the sunken ferry, feeling for children's bodies with their hands in a maze of cabins, corridors and upturned decks.



With oxygen and communication lines trailing, the divers are only able to see a few inches in front of them. Most of the victims were high school children who were told not to evacuate for their own safety.



'We are trained for hostile environments, but it's hard to be brave when we meet bodies in dark water,' said diver Hwang Dae-sik, as the funerals of 25 students were held near the capital Seoul.

The tragic words from the diver come at the same time as pupils at Danwon High School returned to lessons today. The school provided therapy sessions for the children as they returned.

A family member of a missing passenger onboard the capsized Sewol ferry, cries as she shouts to government officials demanding faster and more efficient rescue work at the port where many family members wait for news

A Buddhist monk prays for the safe return of passengers at a port in Jindo. Divers are still searching for bodies today near the site were the Sewol ferry went down

Heartbreaking: Citizens of Ansan, South Korea, were still praying for the return of passengers aboard the Sewol ferry tonight as grim news emerged from the wreckage Praying: Reports from divers in the wreckage said most of the bodies found in the last few days had broken fingers, possibly because they tried so hard to escape

Thousands of mourners visited a temporary memorial to pay their respects to the hundreds of victims from a single high school in the South Korea ferry disaster.

The Sewol sank last Wednesday on a routine trip from the port of Incheon, near Seoul, to the southern island of Jeju. Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers on a high school outing. Only 174 people have been rescued and the remainder are presumed drowned.



In a rare move, the disaster has prompted reclusive North Korea - which routinely threatens the South with destruction and is still technically at war with it - to send a message of sympathy.

'We express condolences for the missing and dead, including young students, from the sinking of the Sewol,' a South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman quoted the message as saying.

The altar of the memorial pictured below is a wall of white and yellow flowers and greens, surrounding photos of 47 students and teachers whose bodies have been identified after being recovered from the ferry Sewol.



The victims of the disaster are overwhelmingly students from a high school in Ansan, near Seoul. More than three-quarters of the 323 students are dead or missing, while nearly two-thirds of the other 153 people on board the ferry when it sank a week ago survived.

At the site, in the auditorium of the Olympic Memorial Museum, visitors walked past a line of wreaths sent from across the country and placed white chrysanthemums on the altar.



Relatives mourn the deaths of their loved ones at a memorial site in Ansan

Name plates and photographs of the students who were killed during the ferry disaster. A memorial site has been set up in the auditorium of the Olympic Memoiral Museum in Ansan

Tribute: A mourner bows in front of a newly opened group memorial altar for the victims from the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol at the Ansan Olympic Memorial Museum on Wednesday near the Danwon High School where many of the victims attended

Respects: The temporary memorial is made up of a giant altar with banks of flowers and framed pictures and names of students whose funerals have taken place

Memorial: Schoolmates of missing passengers on the ferry Sewol and mourners pay tribute to their fellow students of Danwon High School

Victims: The victims are overwhelmingly students from a high school in Ansan, near Seoul. More than three-quarters of the 323 students are dead or missing

Altar: Danwon High School students bow as they visit a newly opened group memorial altar for the victims from the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol at the Ansan Olympic Memorial Museum on Wednesday

Recovery: The grim work of recovering bodies from the submerged vessel continued today as the official death toll reached 150

A big screen on the left of the altar showed pictures of students, one face after another, all in school uniforms, while another screen on the right showed a stream of text messages from the public expressing condolences.

Danwon High School's junior class was aboard the ferry from Incheon port to the southern tourist island of Jeju. About 250 of the students are dead or missing.



'They are the same age as my grandchildren,' said 73-year-old Bae So-ja as she wiped tears from her eyes with a handkerchief. She was one of the first to pay condolences at the memorial.

Visitors to the memorial received black fabric patches bearing the Chinese character for 'condolence' to pin on the left side of their chests. They bowed in silence and a few people bowed down formally, lowering their heads and bodies to the floor.

A woman wailed as she brought a flower to the altar; though hundreds of other people were at the memorial, the only other sound was solemn piano music.

By noon, the line of mourners stretched to the street, many of them in black suits and black dresses.

'This was the only thing I could do for the students,' said Lee Ae-ri, who lives in another city about a half-hour drive away. 'I can't stay long inside because I feel like tearing up.'

A few blocks from the memorial, the high school was quiet. Classes normally would have begun by now, but only a few students were there on Wednesday. They were invited to visit counselors and psychiatrists there to discuss their grief.



This graphic shows how the rescuers hope to salvage the sunken ferry

Visitors bow their heads as they pay their tributes in front of the group memorial altar for the victims from the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol

Even with about 150 people still missing, the funeral halls in Ansan are already full, Oh Sang-yoon, of the government-wide emergency taskforce centre, said in a statement

Give Hope: Messages wishing for the safe return of missing passengers from capsized passenger ship Sewol are seen at Danwon High School

Notes and messages to missing teachers and students are posted on walls, stairs, doors and windows. Some left cookies, soda cans and bread on window panes. Inside a classroom, a few bouquets of white flowers were placed on empty desks. 'Our Jung-hoon is a nice kid,' read one message, left on a door. 'Please. Save him. If he won't come back, please send him to a good place.' Lee Seung-min, an 18-year-old senior, said students are 'constantly watching the news and crying, and going back and forth from the school, placing chrysanthemums and crying, and unable to do anything.' Seniors' classes will begin Thursday, and younger grades next week, including the 13 juniors who did not go on the ferry. It's not clear when the 75 students who survived will return; most remain hospitalized, many for mental stress. Classes during the first two days will focus on helping students cope with losses and trauma, with assistance from psychiatrists and professional counselors, said An Soon-uk, a supervisor at Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education. The school has turned some of the classrooms into a medical center so students will be able to seek help during classes. 'Many of them are feeling guilt and resentment. Some students are in a blank state, unable to express any feelings,' said Hong Hyun-ju, a psychiatrist who is one of some 50 medical professionals from outside the high school giving psychological treatment and counseling to students, teachers and parents. The number of bodies recovered has risen sharply since the weekend, when divers battling strong currents and low visibility were finally able to enter the submerged vessel

A woman and child pay tribute at a group memorial altar for victims of the sunken passenger ship at the Olympic Memorial Museum on Wednesday

Students from Danwon High School pay tribute at a group memorial altar for victims of the sunken ferry

Three teachers were rescued from the boat. One, a vice principal, died in an apparent suicide, saying he felt guilty for being alive when hundreds remained missing.

Reminders of the disaster will be hard to avoid for some time. An said funerals are held every morning, and funeral processions continue all the way to the student's classroom, led by a relative holding the student's picture. Sometimes, he said, parents faint when they enter the room.

When they use cumbersome oxygen tanks on their backs instead, they can work for about 20 minutes before an alarm bell sounds.

Even with about 150 people still missing, the funeral halls in Ansan are already full, Oh Sang-yoon, of the government-wide emergency taskforce centre, said in a statement.

He said the centre 'is taking measures to accommodate additional bodies by placing mortuary refrigerators at the funeral halls in Ansan', and directing mourning families to funeral homes in nearby cities.

Rescue operation: A government official said divers must now rip through cabin walls to retrieve more victims

Recovery: South Korean rescue teams take part in recovery operations at the site of the sunken Sewol ferry, marked with buoys, off the coast of the South Korean island of Jindo on Wednesday

Difficulties: Taskforce spokesman Koh Myung-seok said the work is becoming more difficult, and divers must now break through cabin walls to retrieve more bodies.

A government official said divers must now rip through cabin walls to retrieve more victims.

On Jindo island, where bodies recovered from the ferry are being taken, descriptions of the dead are read over a loudspeaker. Relatives rush over to the main notice board and peer at details added by an official.

Some relatives cry out and run from the tent. Others stand red-eyed and shell-shocked.

The number of bodies recovered has risen sharply since the weekend, when divers battling strong currents and low visibility were finally able to enter the submerged vessel.

Search: Divers at the site where the capsized passenger ship Sewol sank in the sea off Jindo, during the search and rescue operation on Wednesday

Prayers: Relatives of passengers of the capsized South Korean ferry Sewol pray in an area where family members of victims of the disaster are gathered along Jindo harbour Twenty-two of the 29 members of the ferry's crew survived, and 11 have been arrested or detained in connection with the investigation. Two were arrested today, senior prosecutor Ang Sang-don said. The captain, Lee Joon-seok, and two crew members were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Yesterday, four crew members were arrested and another two were detained without arrest warrants. One crew member told Reuters today that she and six colleagues were 'under command' to abandon ship.

The unidentified crew member, speaking briefly to reporters on the way from court back into detention, was hidden behind a surgical mask and wearing a baseball cap with a jacket hood. She did not elaborate.

Another crew member was asked if there was any discussion about trying to save the passengers. 'At that moment, we were on the third floor and except for the third floor situation, we weren't aware of anything else,' the crew member said. The four crew members arrested yesterday talked to reporters after a court hearing, their faces hidden with caps, hooded sweatshirts and masks. One said they tried to correct the ferry's listing early on but 'various devices, such as the balance weight, didn't work. So we reported the distress situation, according to the captain's judgement, and tried to launch the lifeboats, but the ferry was too tilted and we couldn't reach.' The captain has said he waited to issue an evacuation order because the current was strong, the water was cold and passengers could have drifted away before help arrived. But maritime experts said he could have ordered passengers to the deck - where they would have had a greater chance of survival - without telling them to abandon ship.

Mr Koh, of the taskforce, said bodies have mostly been found on the third and fourth floors of the ferry, where many passengers seemed to have gathered. Many students were housed in cabins on the fourth floor, near the stern of the ship, he said.

Awaiting news: Family members of a missing passenger wait for the news on the rescue and salvage operation at makeshift accommodation at a gymnasium in the port city of Jindo

The cause of the disaster is not yet known. Senior prosecutor Ahn Sang-don said investigators are considering factors including wind, ocean currents, freight, modifications made to the ship and the fact that it turned just before it began listing. He said authorities will conduct a simulation and get experts' opinions.

The Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries had released incomplete data on the turn last week because a central station did not receive all the signals the Sewol's on-board transponder had sent. It released more complete details yesterday with data received by another station, and those show that the ferry spent about three minutes making a roughly 180-degree turn shortly before it began to list.

It remains unclear why the ship turned around. The third mate, who was arrested on Saturday, was steering at the time of the accident, in a challenging area where she had not steered before, and the captain said he was not on the bridge at the time.

Shareholders of the Sewol's owner, Chonghaejin Marine Co, apologised in a statement which was distributed to reporters outside the office in Incheon, saying they feel 'infinite sadness and responsibility'.