S Koreans search for dumped corpses

South Korean police are continuing their search for the bodies of 25 Chinese illegal immigrants allegedly dumped at sea after suffocating in the hold of a fishing boat.

Police in the South Korean port of Yosu say the group were among 60 ethnic Korean and Chinese being smuggled into the country on board the vessel Taechangho.

Reports said arrest warrants were being drawn up for the boat's captain and eight crew.

Police said they were also searching for the smuggler's suspected ringleader who ordered the corpses thrown overboard.

Police originally thought 26 people had died but revised the number down to 25. The 35 survivors are reportedly in good condition and face deportation back to China.

'Suffocated to death'

Investigators say the Chinese were illegal immigrants who, it is thought, suffocated in a fish-storage tank as they were being smuggled into South Korea.

According to the police, ringleader Yeo Sa-gu promised the smugglers payment of about $23,000. Police also allege Mr Yeo ordered the crewmen to dump the bodies at sea.

South Korea's national Yonhap news agency quoted the Taechongho's captain, Lee Pan-Keun, as saying he had crammed the group of 60 Chinese below decks into a fish-storage tank on Saturday after picking them up from the South Korean island of Cheju.

"My crew and I found 26 people suffocated to death and discarded their bodies sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning in waters off the Sorido island," he said.

Police said on Tuesday they had failed to recover any bodies.

Growing human trade

Yonhap quoted an unidentified source as saying the would-be immigrants left the Chinese port of Ningbo in Zhejiang province on 1 October.

A growing number of Chinese and ethnic Koreans, from China or the Communist North, are attempting to enter the South illegally by sea to get better-paid jobs.

Five leaders of a smuggling ring were arrested in July, along with six illegal immigrants who had each paid $8,000 to make the journey from China.