Divers searching for people missing in the Sewol ferry disaster were expected to cut open windows at one end of the sunken hull Friday while combing through compartments at the other end, officials said.

The operations will take place simultaneously at set times during the day when currents virtually come to a standstill, the officials said. On Friday, those times were 8:57 a.m., 2:38 p.m. and 8:28 p.m.

Divers plan to cut open windows at the back of the fourth deck in order to remove obstacles blocking access to parts of the hull, the officials said. They also plan to continue the search for bodies at the front of the third and fourth decks.

Wind in the area was forecast to blow at a speed of 5 to 8 meters per second, with waves reaching about 0.5 meter high.

No bodies have been recovered from the sunken ferry since May 21, leaving the death toll at 288. Sixteen people remain accounted for.

The 6,825-ton Sewol was carrying an estimated 476 people on board when it sank off the southwestern island of Jindo on April 16. (Yonhap)