South Korea arrests the captain of the ferry that capsized earlier this week

Update:

The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized, leaving 29 people dead and 274 others missing, was arrested on Saturday, the country's Yonhap news agency said.

Yonhap said Captain Lee Joon-seok, 69, faced five charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law.

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The captain was not at the helm of the South Korean ferry that capsized two days ago, investigators said Friday, as anger spread over stalled rescue efforts for hundreds of missing passengers trapped by the submerged vessel.

"We have confirmed that the captain of the Sewol left the wheel to a third mate before the ship began sinking," chief investigator Park Jae-eok said as he announced the interim results of the investigation at the West Regional Headquarters of the Korea Coast Guard in Mokpo, 410 kilometers (about 254 miles) south of Seoul.

"We are investigating whether the captain left the pilothouse," he added, saying there have been conflicting testimonies about the captain's exact location at the time of the sinking.

Prosecutors on Friday issued arrest warrants for Captain Lee Joon-seok, the officer at the wheel and one other crew member for failing in their duty to aid passengers.

More than 48 hours after the 6,825-ton Sewol suddenly listed and then sank, a small of army of more than 500 exhausted divers — battling powerful currents in almost zero visibility — have yet to obtain any access to the ferry's interior.

The confirmed death toll stood at 28, but the focus of concern remained the 268 people still unaccounted for — hundreds of them children on a high school outing to the southern resort island of Jeju.

The vice-principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of pupils on the ferry has committed suicide, police said on Friday.

More from GlobalPost: South Koreans blame themselves for ferry tragedy

Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday. He appeared to have hanged himself with his belt from a tree outside a gym in the port city of Jindo where relatives of the people missing on the ship, mostly children from the school, were gathered.

Rescue operations continue

Little progress was made as rain, high waves and strong winds effectively hampered their desperate rescue attempts for the past two days.

Divers also began injecting oxygen into the ship to have the ship floated and to help potential survivors trapped inside breathe, the officials said, adding unmanned robots are also available to be dispatched underwater to find survivors.

Experts say that people can survive for 72 hours if there are "air pockets" in compartments.

Despite diverse options, however, the capsized ship went underwater completely around noon, further lowering the possibility that any survivors can be found.

Three salvage cranes, including a 3,200-ton one, also arrived at the scene earlier in the day, with more to come, either to move the hull to some other place where the tidal current is weak or to salvage it.

"But we are reviewing the options very carefully, as the salvage operations may hurt survivors trapped inside," a Coast Guard officer said. "We are also considering using a floating dock to set the ship afloat."