Scores missing after Republic of Korea vessel overturns and sinks off country's southwestern coast; Coast Guard and navy teams seek survivors after 164 rescued

Nearly 300 people remained missing on Wednesday night after a ferry sank off the Republic of Korea in the morning, the Coast Guard said, in what could be the country's biggest peacetime disaster in nearly 20 years.

The ferry Sewol was carrying 459 people, of whom 164 were rescued, Coast Guard officials said.