Dozens of relatives of missing passengers clashed with police early Sunday morning on Jindo Island, South Jeolla Province, near the ferry wreck site, after police blocked them from moving to Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul.

About 70 family members of victims who went missing when the Sewol ferry sank had planned to visit the presidential office in protest of the government for the slow progress in the ongoing search-and-rescue operation, and its sloppy response to the fatal accident. As of 12 p.m., the death toll sat at 50.

The families, however, called off the protest later in the morning and agreed to hold talks with Prime Minister Chung Hong-won.

The government has been under fire for inflating the number of survivors on the first day of the accident. Numbers of rescued and missing kept changing as the government had been unable to figure out exactly how many people were aboard the ship.

Families have expressed rage that the state-led diving operations have been too slow. Despite divers risking their lives, the operation took five days to pull the first body from inside the ship.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)

Photo credit: Yonhap