South Korea has called off the search for missing crew members of the navy ship which sunk last week. All hope of any of the 45 missing mariners being found alive has been abandoned. Relatives of the missing had called on the authorities to stop the search so as to not risk any more lives.

Last week a diver was killed while taking part in the dangerous operation to locate possible survivors. The South Korean navy ship sank following an explosion which occured while the vessel was close to the disputed maritime border with the territorial waters of North Korea. A total of 58 crew members were rescued.

It's still not known what caused the blast. The South Korean navy has plans to try to recover the vessel.