By Jung Min-ho

Another civilian diver died Friday while searching for passengers still missing from the sunken ferry Sewol.

According to the government’s disaster response team, the diver who was involved in operations to cut open the hull of the ferry was flown to Mokpo Hankook Hospital by helicopter immediately after suffering respiratory problems.

He was unconscious when he arrived at the hospital at 3:20 p.m. , and was pronounced dead 15 minutes later.

It was the second such fatality. Another civilian diver, 53, died on May 6 also searching for missing Sewol passengers.

The work to remove objects blocking passage to the fourth deck of the vessel began Thursday. That is where most of the missing passengers’ bodies are believed to be.

“So far, divers have been able to cut a 4.8-meter-wide and 1.5-meter-high hole under a window,” an official at the disaster response team said.