No pockets of air have been found on the sunken South Korean ferry, a government official told anguished family awaiting news of loved ones Wednesday.
Divers were also trying to access the rear of the ferry for the first time, police told relatives.
Most of the victims of the ferry Sewol, which capsized and sunk a week ago, are students of a high school in Ansan, near Seoul. More than three-quarters of the 323 students are dead or missing, while nearly two-thirds of the other 153 people on board the ferry Sewol when it sank one week ago survived.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.