this is cnn breaking news. >> good evening. i'm bill weir. it is 10:00 in the east, late morning saturday in south korea. breaking news tonight, divers have entered the sunken ferry and discovered bodies. as of right now, 29 people who were on board are confirmed dead. 270 remain missing and unaccounted for. cnn's pauline chiou is in south korea. >> reporter: here's the latest information out of the search. [ inaudible ] now the divers were able to reach the third level of the ship. now, this is a level where many of the bedrooms were. most of the bedrooms were on the fourth level, where the high school students who were on that field trip were staying.

the divers were able to look in the windows of that level and reported spotting three bodies floating but they were unable to break the window. so they are going to try again. there's a massive effort today. as we are 72 hours in to this. there are more than 600 divers on standby, civilian and government divers. the problem is too much time has passed. they are going to be divers going in throughout the day, more than 40 attempts. there are also four cranes on scene. the idea, bill, is to try to get the ship stabilize but they don't want to do that until divers can access the ship in case there are survivors. we can get an idea of what happened with the families because there was a lot of emotion out there. >> it is still going on. we broke away to talk to our

audience about what is happening. it is a bit of an informal q and a. the government has been criticized for not communicating enough with the family. we've both seen the families are outraged, upset and want more information. that's what this is. it is happening at the dock side where they have been holding this 24-hour vigil. it's hard to explain what these families are going through. they are refusing to accept that their children could be gone. they want coast guard to keep searching for survivors. so there's a sense they are trying to help them understand that it's -- the odds are against them. >> what kinds of questions are they asking? >> what they are asking is why aren't you working harder? why aren't you trying harder? why aren't you pumping air in to the ship itself. what they are saying back is we're trying. >> we know one of the ideas was to pump air in the ship to try

to stabilize and we know that kyung talked to several family members yesterday and let's see what she heard. >> captain answering a question concerning dozens of desperate relatives. why would you order passengers to stay on a sinking ship? the current was very high and the water temperature was cold and if you had not worn a life jacket or even if you had warn one if you got off the boat with no judgment you would have been swept very far away, he says. the captain is handcuffed, arrested on five charges including abandoning ship and causing bodily injury as a resulting in death. in this newly released video you can see the captain right after he was cued from his own sinking ship while hundreds of others were left behind n. the eyes of many here in south korea, he's public enemy number one. prosecutors soed revealed the

captain wasn't on the bridge when the boat began to sink, but still hold him responsible for quote failing to slow down while sailing the narrow route and making the turn excessively. also released today radio traffic between the ferry and authorities. the first sign of distress came in at 8:55 a.m. local time. now all that remains of the ferry above the is surface are buoys marking its position. new footage from inside the doomed ferry continues to surface. in this is survivor's video, the ship is already at an extreme angle as passengers clamor to high ground. others brace themselves inside as they were instructed by the crew. it's unclear if these people made it out alive. one man who did make it out alive couldn't bear the reality in the end. in a wood area near where distraught relatives are camped

out in jindo, police say the vice principal of the school where these kids attended hung himself. in his suicide note he took responsibility for the loss of life and asked his ashes be placed over the site. his suicide has heightened fears that relatives of the missing may soon do the same. >> i want to jump in to the sea, she says. thinking about my child in the sea how as a parent can i eat or drink? i hate myself for this. >> back live at the port where the parents are gathering. we are looking at essentially a mass of them. there's just -- everyone we have seen the last couple of days, they are sitting there and peppering the coast guard with questions. there's also the press there. what they are trying to figure out is exactly where does the search operation stand? what's happening at sea?

from what we are told by the coast guard, in a press conference that wrapped up a short time ago, televised nationally, is that the search is ongoing. they have laid search lines around the ship. divers are going to try to go in to the ship. they have not been able to access it. the difficult part is trying to break through the glass to get in to the ship. there have been additional bodies found. so hope is beginning to dim. the odds are certainly against all of the families but we are hearing them still ask the coast guard will they search for survivors. are there still air pockets? >> i understand, kyung, that each of the divers, i think we have a graphic of it. they have airlines going to the surface which must make any efforts to navigate under that 50-feet deep in to this multilayers of that ship extremely difficult. >> very difficult.

let's talk about the conditions of the water. the yellow sea is extremely frigid. yes, they are wearing wet suits. yes, they are wearing protection. yes, they are trained divers, but it's extremely cold. the waves, the tides have been very high the last couple of days. it is murky water, it is not crystal clear mediterranean sea. they are 12 miles behind me. it is not ideal conditions. even though the weather improved from 24 hours ago when we spoke it is still very difficult. what makes it extremely difficult is everyone here knows this is a national tragedy the. they are dealing with high school children. high school children who went on a field trip and will not come back if they did not find that air pocket. >> so many interesting cultural differences here. not the least of which the assistant principal who apparently hanged himself and left this heart rending note

taking responsibility because he had encouraged the school to take the kids on this trip. what kind of counselling is being provided? is there a stigma attached to that as well for the poor moms and dads behind you? in asia, there is a stigma. there is a sense that there is some sort of weakness in this culture that if you go out and seek professional help. it's complicated but there is a stigma about mental health. it is weakening generation to generation but still exists. what we see here at the port, as

well as the jigymnasium. they say they don't want that. they want their children. the concern is will there be any sort of survivors' guilt? a lot of parents say they sent their child. how am i supposed to live without my child? i heard that four times just now in that q and a session with the coast guard. how am i supposed to live? what do you expect my life to be like? so there is this concern about that, about survivors' guilt and south korea is ranked number one in the world for suicide rate. there is a larger cultural acceptance of suicide here than anywhere the world. >> it is the five stages of grief playing out live behind you. it's just heart breaking. when we come back more on this breaking news as well as the search for 370.

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of south korea w. we have a whole team on the story. a professor of physics at florida institute of technology and kad courtly, former navy s.e.a.l. joining us via the phone. start with paula hancocks who's out near the sunken ferry, i believe. is that right, paul la? doesn't sound like -- we lost her. yep, we lost her cell phone reception. pauline and kyung are dock side where so many frantic parents are waiting for word. what's the latest. >> we can tell you there's a q and a session behind us. this session we're really hearing the parents pepper the coast guard with questions about what the status of the search is, where paula is right now.

what's the possibility? what's the chance that there is an air pocket? they are clinging to that hope that the children might still be alive. what is the most heart breaking thing, and we've seen it, these are parents and it's high school children we are talking about what are missing. >> we have been talking to parents the last couple of days and they are hanging on to hope that perhaps these 300 or so high school students that are there perhaps they found an air pocket because many were on the fourth level, which is where their bedrooms were. it was also breakfast time and there's a cafeteria. the hope is that perhaps in one of these areas there might have been an air pocket. but we are 72 hours in to this. when you talk to the experts, survivability is approximately six hours in the temperatures that we are talking about in the yellow sea, the water that you see behind us. there is this undercurrent that you hear and what the parents are saying that they refuse to

accept what the facts are. and they are hoping for those air pockets. >> we can tell you a little more about the search operation. that's what the parents are asking about, about the diving situation. we know there are more than 600 civilian and government divers ready to be a part of. this yesterday, two divers went in to set up search lines. they were able to access the freight area, which is the second level. we know there were 1,000 containers, more than 100 vehicles. they were able to access that area and open the door, but they were met with many floating obstacles. that's how they described it. then the search line got cut off and had to stop that part of the operation. that gives you an idea how difficult the conditions are. three more divers were able to go in today. they were able to look inside the third level where some of the bedrooms are. most are on the fourth level, as i mentioned, and they saw three floating bodies.

they tried to break the window. >> but it's the air pressure. the air pressure is the big problem. so, bill, this gives you a sense of what we are looking at, a long, pain staking search. >> let's try paula hancocks once more who's out on the water 100 yards from the wreckage. paula, can you hear me? >> hello, bill. yes, i can. let me tell you what i am seeing before i lose you again. spotty signals out here. i'm about 100 meters away from where the ferry has sunk. to be honest, you would not know there was more a ferry under the water were not for the sheer number of vessels above the water. there are two large inflatables that mark the spot where the ferry is but there is no sign from the water top of what is happening underneath. we know there are a number at this moment of divers trying to get in. desperately hoping they will

find some survivors. an idea of what is happening here. i have counted at least 100 vessels from the large warships to the small private fishing vessels. everybody has become involved. if there is any chance of finding life beneath these waves, everyone is working around the clock to try to make that happen. one thing i have noticed, bill, in the past hour is a number of oil slicks on the water surface. a very strong smell of oil. we're all noticing this now. we wonder if this is related to the ferry. we don't know at this point if it is but that is new in the past couple of minutes. a couple of helicopters overhead. we know that four floatable cranes are standing by. they are not part of the rescue operation at the moment. as far as we can see, at this point, the main crux of the search operation is the divers. there are a number of small

inflatable dingies with the divers on board. >> can you get a sense of how deep the hull is beneath the bottom of the surface? >> there's no way of seeing that at all. this water is very murky and choppy as well. certainly in the last hour we have noticed that the winds have picked up. there hasn't been rain since we have been here this morning. the visibility is good but we know it will get worse throughout the afternoon. the water is choppier. you can not see beneath the surface of the waves. you can not see in to the water at all. seriously if there were not inflatables on the boats, you would have idea that the massive passenger ferry was beneath. >> i am trying to get a sense of how do we know the thing hasn't gone to the bottom? any word from the authorities

there that the divers are going down ten, 20 feet, to get to the ferry? >> from our vantage point where we saw we are unable to talk to anybody. we don't know exactly how deep the ferry is at this point. as i say, the visibility is so poor you cannot even see a few centimeters below the surface of the water. it's absolutely impossible to tell exactly where this ferry is from here. >> let me ask our physics experts. professor from the florida institute of technology. we were hoping, at least, operating under the assumption, that it was just beneath the surface, not visible there. if so air pockets would have to be in existence to keep it from going to the bottom, correct? >> that's pretty good, bill. thank you for having me. this story gets more tragic every day and my heart goes out to the families and the communities but they are right to keep hope alive.

whether it is a earthquake and people trapped in rubble or avalanche, we have seen people that beat the odds. a fortunate set of circumstances will come together. in this case it is clear what's necessary. if we have people in air pockets a small number in a large enough space with access to fresh water and dry there can still be survivors. >> that's the hope. can you hear me? i don't know if we have our former navy s.e.a.l. i'd love to know the diving challenge this would provide to go down there. we don't have him, as well. we also have to worry, professor, about hypothermia. obviously if this water is 55, 60 degrees. there's a big difference even in that small span there. as long as they keep the core above that liquid they would be okay, for how long? >> well, you know, you will succumb very quickly in cold water. i hear the water is about 50

degrees. a person can go uncon can, as quickly as 15 minutes in water of that temperature but you can survive up to six hours. it is a water of hours and minutes if you are in very cold water. it's key there be warm and dry in this case. and really it's the temperature that matters. but, you know, the other things of carbon dioxide toxicity, lack of oxygen and lack of fresh water to drink could play a role. now we are talking a few days, hours to days they could survive sglit has been a couple of days. >> i guess we have cade courtly back on the phone with us. give us an assessment of what goes through your mind as a diver for a rescue operation like this to go beneath and upside down ferry, 800 feet long. describe the challenges there. >> well, i mean, look,

unfortunately we are dealing with a ship that's upside down. we are dealing with heavy current. we are dealing with water tham is like 50 degrees and we're dealing with a bunch of young kids that were trapped. of course, you can expect the fact that we're going to start to find bodies. upwards of 200 people trapped inside of a submerged ship. it's unfortunate. i still believe there's some people inside of there that are still alive. >> you do? you think so? >> i do. >> that would be great if you are right. how would you get them out? say a diver is able to find some kid in there, how would you extract them from that sort of thing? would you have to bring scuba tanks? >> if i had the good fortune of being in charge of the situation, i literally -- okay, we have three heavy lifting cranes out there. i need two cranes on the stern

of the ship to literally put a belly band under that and one under the battleship. and let's stabilize that ship. now that it is stabilize, start to cut holes in to the hull of the ship. instead of divers going from underneath up, we will have search parties going from the hull of the ship from holes cut down. at this point, that's our best bet. i hope this doesn't turn in to, from a rescue operation in to a recovery operation. there's still a chance there are people in there, in air pockets, that have been able to stay out of the cold water and that many people in there, somebody is still alive. we can't stop. you are not dead until you are cold and dead. there's still some people in there. >> there are hundreds of moms and dads that hope against hope

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this is cnn breaking news. >> all eyes are on the coast of south korea. about 12 miles off shore where that country's coast guard says divers have discovered at least three more bodies inside of the sunken ferry. they are in jindo, south korea. hakeem from the florida institute of technology, cade

courtley expert on divers and rescues and former navy s.e.a.l. pauline, set the scene for us there. you are in front of many grieving families waiting for any shred of information and demanding answers. >> yeah. the families have been gathered here the past three days along this harbor front asking for answers, pleading with government officials not to waste anytime time as we are in to this 72 hours plus. here's the latest on the search effort. divers have been able to reach the third level of the ship. they were able to see three floating bodies and they tried to get to them by breaking a window. they were unsuccessful because the currents are so difficult. yesterday, one of the search lines actually got cut off. that gives you an idea how difficult this is. the families are hanging on to that hope that perhaps there might be an air pocket somewhere. there are still