Almost 300 people remain unaccounted for after a ferry carrying 459 people capsized and sank off South Korea.

The ferry, carrying mainly school students, was traveling from the port of Incheon, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.

Emergency teams are using floodlights and flares to search the stricken vessel through the night. Those rescued have been taken to a nearby island

Four people are now said to have died and dozens of others have been hurt.

South Korean officials had earlier said that 368 people had been plucked to safety, but later said there had been a counting error.

They have now revised down the number rescued to 174.