S. Korea ferry transcript reveals evacuation panic

South Korean Coast Guard members conducting a search and rescue operation for the missing passengers of the Sewol ferry sinking in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea. - EPA

JINDO , South Korea, April 20, 2014 (AFP) - Panic-stricken and fumbling for a response, the crew of a South Korean ferry dithered over the evacuation of passengers in the crucial final moments before it sank, a transcript released Sunday revealed, as divers began retrieving bodies from the vessel.

Investigators arrested ferry captain Lee Joon-Seok on Saturday along with a helmsman and the ship's relatively inexperienced third officer, charging them with negligence and failing to secure the safety of hundreds of passengers - most of them children on a high school holiday trip.