South Korean ferry was dangerously overloaded with more than three times the ...

SEOUL, South Korea - Divers searching a sunken South Korean ferry found 48 bodies crammed into a cabin designed for 38 people. All the bodies were wearing life jackets, according to authorities.

Divers have recovered 183 bodies so far, but the South Korean government was on the defensive Friday over reports that some bodies went to the wrong families, with the error sometimes caught only after the remains were taken to a funeral home. An 'action plan' released by the government-wide emergency task force acknowledged that 'there have been cases where the victims were wrongly transferred.'

Meanwhile, it was revealed Friday that the ferry Sewol was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo - three times what an inspector said it could safely carry.

During a visit to South Korea Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama offered his condolences over the disaster.

'So many were young students with their entire lives ahead of them,' Mr. Obama said, invoking his two daughters, both close in age to many of the ferry victims. 'I can only imagine what the parents are going through at this point, the incredible heartache.'

The government task force announced Friday that mistakes in identification meant remains would be transferred to families only when there was a match using DNA testing or fingerprint or dental records. The transfer would be temporary when a body was matched though identification or physical description, and authorities would wait for more authoritative evidence before making the transfer permanent.

The ferry sank April 16 on its way from Incheon port to the southern tourist island of Jeju. More than 80% of the 302 dead and missing are students from a single high school in Ansan, south of Seoul.

Eleven crew members, including the captain, have been arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Prosecutor Yang Jung-jin of the joint investigation team said Friday that the cause of the sinking could be due to excessive veering, improper stowage of cargo, modifications made to the ship and tidal influence. He said investigators will determine the cause by consulting with experts and simulations.

Prosecutors on Friday also barred eight current and former officials from a maritime inspection agency from leaving South Korea as the investigation continues.

The ferry was carrying an estimated 3,608 tons of cargo, said Moon Ki-han, a vice-president at Union Transport Co., which loaded its cargo. That's more than three times what an inspector who examined the vessel during a redesign said it could safely carry. It also far exceeds what the captain claimed in paperwork: 150 cars and 657 tons of other cargo, according to the coast guard.

The Korean Register of Shipping inspector's report said that changes made to the ship meant that it had to carry no more than about 1,000 tons of cargo, while taking on more than 2,000 tons of water as ballast to ensure stability. Before the modifications, the report said, the ship could handle more than 2,500 tons of cargo and needed only about 1,000 tons of water ballast.

Yet the coast guard says shipowner Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd. reported cargo capacity of 3,963 tons - a number unchanged from that reported by the Sewol's previous Japanese owner before the ship was redesigned.

A naval architecture expert said Friday that the reported load could have set the ship tipping over with a significant turn. Tracking data show the ship turned 45 degrees before sinking, and crew members have reportedly said that they had tried to make a much less severe turn.

'The ship would suddenly fall even with just a small turn. It should not make a sharp turn,' said Lee Kyu Yeul, professor emeritus in ship and offshore plant design at Seoul National University's Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. 'It should make a huge circle with 1 or 2 degrees of turn, but [the Sewol] made a small circle. So it fell.'

news3blog.blogspot.com, with files from The New York Times