One more body was found Saturday in waters near a South Korean ferry, which sank off the country's southwestern coast on Wednesday, local broadcaster YTN reported citing the South Korean Coast Guard.

The body, identified as female, was spotted 150m away from the submerged vessel when divers were conducing nighttime search operations.

Death toll has kept rising as search operations continued, with 29 people confirmed dead. The number of missing passengers was 273, and another 174 people were rescued.

Coast guard, navy and private divers were continuing search and rescue operations at night. The operations at the site of the accident will last until 6 a.m. Saturday.

The divers reached the entrance of passenger cabins of the ferry after a three-hour-long attempt late Friday to make their way into there, but the divers failed to enter into the cabins. No survivor has been reported yet.

The 6,825-ton passenger ferry, "Sewol," capsized and sank off Jindo Island near the southwestern tip of South Korea. Most of the missing were believed to be trapped inside the sunken vessel.

The 476 passengers aboard the upturned vessel included 325 high school students and 15 teachers on the way for a four-day field trip. The ship departed from South Korea's western port city of Incheon Tuesday night for the southern resort island of Jeju.