Eight More Bodies Found Near Sunken S. Korea Trawler

Eight more bodies were recovered Thursday from the area where a South Korean trawler sank in the Bering Sea off Russia's far east coast, leaving 33 crew members still missing, officials said.

A total of 20 bodies have now been recovered since the 1,753-tonne Oryong 501 trawler went down Monday in rough, icy seas with 60 people on board.

Only seven people were rescued.

The eight bodies recovered Thursday included two Indonesians, two South Koreans, two Filipinos and two unidentified crew members, said a spokesman for the vessel's operator, Sajo Industries.

A U.S. coastguard plane has been helping South Korean and Russian ships scouring the area, backed by a Russian helicopter.

South Korea plans to dispatch two naval planes and a coast guard ship, despite the increasingly unlikely prospect of finding any survivors.

Those on board included 11 South Koreans, 35 Indonesians, 13 Philippine crew members, as well as a Russian fisheries inspector who was among the rescued.