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- Investigators search ferry owner's offices, other sites
- Ship inspection agency also being probed, news agency reports
- Hopes are fading for survivors with news that divers haven't found any air pockets
- Devastated high school set to resume classes Thursday
Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean authorities searched the offices of the company that owns the sunken ferry Sewol on Wednesday, prosecutors confirmed to CNN, broadening a criminal investigation that has already ensnared 11 members of the ill-fated ship's crew.
Investigators also searched offices of 20 organizations affiliated with Cheonghaejin Marine Co. as well as the home of Yoo Byung-eun, a billionaire whose family appears to control the company, according to the semiofficial Yonhap News Agency.
Prosecutors in the South Korean city of Busan are also investigating the private organization responsible for inspecting and certifying ships for the South Korean government, Yonhap reported.
Investigators are looking for any evidence of possible wrongdoing in relation to the Korean Register of Shipping's safety inspection of the Sewol, the news agency reported, citing an unnamed prosecutor.
The Sewol sank April 16 during a routine transit from Incheon to the resort island of Jeju. Among its 476 passengers and crew were more than 300 high school students on a field trip.
Memorial stirs raw emotions for families
Search personnel dive into the waters of the Yellow Sea off the coast of South Korea near the sunken ferry Sewol on Wednesday, April 23. More than 100 people have died and many are missing after the ferry sank on Wednesday, April 16, as it was headed to the resort island of Jeju from the port of Incheon.
Flares light up the search area on Tuesday, April 22.
The sun sets over the site of the sunken ferry off the coast of the South Korean island of Jindo on April 22.
A relative of a passenger aboard the ferry prays as she waits for news in Jindo on April 22.
The search for victims continues in the waters of the Yellow Sea on April 22.
Rescue workers carry the body of a passenger on Monday, April 21, in Jindo.
Divers jump into the water on April 21 to search for passengers near the buoys which mark the site of the sunken ferry.
A relative of a passenger looks at the lists of the dead in Jindo on April 21.
Search operations continue as flares illuminate the scene near Jindo on Sunday, April 20.
Relatives of missing passengers from the Sewol ferry grieve on April 20 in Jindo.
Relatives of passengers look out at the sea from Jindo on April 20.
A relative of a missing passenger struggles with a policeman as he tries to march toward the presidential house in Jindo on April 20 to protest the government's rescue operation.
Police officers stand guard Saturday, April 19, at the port in Jindo to prevent relatives of the ferry's missing passengers from jumping in the water. Some relatives have said they will swim to the shipwreck site and find their missing family members by themselves.
Family members of missing passengers hug as they await news of their missing relatives at Jindo Gymnasium in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea, on April 19.
South Korean Navy Ship Salvage Unit members prepare to salvage the sunken ferry and search for missing people on April 19.
Oil from the sunken ferry appears near the wreckage site on April 19.
Lee Joon Suk, the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol, is escorted to the court that issued his arrest warrant Friday, April 18, in Mokpo, South Korea. It is not yet known what caused Wednesday's deadly accident.
Offshore cranes wait near buoys that mark the location of the sunken ferry near Jindo, South Korea, on April 18.
A U.S. helicopter takes off from the flight deck of the USS Bonhomme Richard during search-and-rescue operations on April 18.
A woman cries as she waits for news on missing passengers April 18 in Jindo.
A searchlight illuminates the capsized ferry on Thursday, April 17.
The ship's captain, Lee Joon Suk, arrives at the Mokpo Police Station in Mokpo on April 17. His head and face covered, he broke down in tears when reporters asked whether he had anything to say.
A woman cries during a candlelight vigil at Danwon High School in Ansan, South Korea, on April 17. Most of the people on board the ferry were high school students on their way to the resort island of Jeju.
Rescue personnel dive April 17 during search operations.
Family members of passengers aboard the sunken ferry gather at a gymnasium in Jindo on April 17.
The body of a victim is moved at a hospital in Mokpo on April 17.
Relatives of a passenger cry at a port in Jindo on April 17 as they wait for news on the rescue operation.
South Korean coast guard members and rescue teams search for passengers at the site of the sunken ferry on April 17.
A relative of a passenger cries as she waits for news on Wednesday, April 16.
Rescue teams and fishing boats try to rescue passengers on April 16.
Relatives check a list of survivors April 16 in Jindo.
Relatives of missing ferry passengers wait for news at a gym in Jindo.
Rescue crews attempt to save passengers from the ferry on April 16.
A South Korean coast guard helicopter lifts passengers off the vessel on April 16.
Police and rescue teams carry a passenger at the port in Jindo on April 16.
A relative waits for a missing loved one at the port in Jindo.
Parents at Danwon High School search for names of their children among the list of survivors. Ansan is a suburb of Seoul, the South Korean capital.
Helicopters hover over the ferry as rescue operations continue April 16.
A man in Seoul watches a news broadcast about the sinking vessel.
Officials escort rescued passengers April 16 in Jindo.
A passenger is helped onto a rescue boat on April 16.
A passenger is rescued from the sinking ship on April 16.
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Photos: South Korean ship sinks
Officials: Dead still wearing life vests
*South Korean ferry rescue operation
South Korean ferry rescue operation
As of early Thursday, authorities had retrieved 159 bodies, leaving 143 passengers missing.
Eleven members of the Sewol's crew, including its captain, have been arrested in connection with the disaster.
Capt. Lee Joon-seok and some other crew members have been criticized for failing to evacuate the sinking ship quickly and for giving orders for passengers to remain where they were. Lee has said he was worried about the cold water, strong currents and lack of rescue vessels.
Lee and others have also drawn public anger for leaving the ship while many passengers remained on board.
Authorities still do not know precisely what caused the incident. It did not appear that the ship was overloaded, according to figures provided by the company and the South Korean coast guard. But coast guard officials said investigators won't know for sure how much cargo the ship was carrying until it is salvaged.
Young crew member hailed as heroine
Hopes fading
South Korean officials continue to call their operation a search and rescue mission, but hopes are fading that survivors may yet be found.
Rescue officials said Wednesday that divers have yet to find an air pocket on the third or fourth decks, where most of the passenger bedrooms and the ship's cafeteria are located.
Rescuers haven't found a single survivor since 174 people were rescued the day the ship sank one week ago.
Many of the bodies pulled from the ferry have come from bedrooms on the capsized ship's fourth deck, according to Ko Myung-suk, a spokesman for the joint task force coordinating the search.
Divers had expected to find passengers inside the third-floor cafeteria but failed to find any, the South Korean coast guard said.
Student made first ferry distress call
Ferry captain: From poster boy to pariah
New ferry recordings reveal chaos, panic
Volunteer divers keep hope alive
While divers still have many rooms to search, no air pockets have been found on either deck, authorities said.
Students remembered
Grief over the sinking has spread across the Korean Peninsula. Even South Korea's nemesis, North Korea, sent condolences Wednesday.
More than two-thirds of those on board the ferry were students from Danwon High School in Ansan, an hour's drive south of Seoul.
On Wednesday, some of their faces stared out from photos amid a huge bank of white flowers at a basketball area in Ansan that has been converted into a temporary memorial.
A permanent memorial is being planned for a park in Ansan.
Hundreds of people filed through the memorial Wednesday, passing about 50 large wreaths on their way to the wall of flowers and pictures.
Somber music played as visitors, including friends and relatives, passed quietly among the tributes. Some wept.
One man, from Seoul, has no ties to the school but came to grieve for the young lives lost.
"I have a daughter," the man told CNN's Nic Robertson. "I think of her alone in black waters. It's just so terrible. I'm angry that I couldn't do anything. So helpless."
The disaster has taken a devastating toll on the high school, where classes are due to resume Thursday.
The school is missing most of its sophomores and a vice principal who was rescued from the ferry but found dead two days after the sinking. He'd apparently hanged himself from a tree.
Lee Seung-min, 17, said one of her closest girlfriends is among the missing. She said she still holds out hope that her friend will return despite the increasingly slim chances of finding survivors.
Before the field trip, the two girls had talked about what universities they might attend, she said.
In recent maritime disasters, captains didn't hang around
Students remember vice principal who took own life
Murky waters cloud the horror facing rescue divers
CNN's Michael Pearson reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Steven Jiang reported from Jindo, and Andrew Stevens reported from Ansan. CNN's Jethro Mullen, K.J. Kwon, Kyung Lah, Tim Schwarz, Larry Register and Judy Kwon also contributed to this report.
