OSLO, Norway -- The search for nine people still missing after a new high-speed ferry sank in icy waters off Norway's west coast was called off on Saturday nearly 24 hours after the disaster, bringing the death toll to 20.
"The official search for survivors has been called off. We searched until we believed it would be impossible (for anyone) to survive," Eldbjoerg Vaaga, a spokeswoman for the rescue center, said."When we stopped the search, it was 22 hours since the tragedy happened, and we do not think that anyone could have survived that," she said.
The rescue center launched a massive operation on Friday when the Sleipner catamaran, with 89 people aboard, sank off Haugesund after hitting a rock in rough seas. Sixty-nine people were rescued.
Police said they would continue a scaled-down operation through Saturday night and on Sunday to recover bodies of the missing.
About 30 vessels, a Sea King helicopter and two smaller aircraft had scoured the area where the ferry went down, as well as the waters in nearby fjords.
Nearly 200 volunteers also searched a 22-mile stretch of rocky coastline, recovering wreckage and baggage.
"If someone had managed to get on to one of the small islands, we would have spotted them today," Vaaga said.
The wreck of the ultra-modern ferry has still not been located, and police said the bodies of some of the missing might be trapped inside.
Police Inspector Ole Arne Linga said a seismic vessel, normally used to map geological structures in oil exploration, was heading to the area to help find the sunken wreck.
Bad weather and strong currents had so far made it impossible to find the ferry. Linga said water depths in the area varied between 130 and 300 feet.
Many survivors were suffering from hypothermia after only a few minutes in the water when the ferry sank on its way from Stavanger to Bergen. The youngest of those who died was 17, the oldest 78, officials said. All were apparently Norwegians.
The ferry had a capacity of 358 passengers and a top speed of about 36 knots. It entered service only three months ago.
Survivors said there was panic when the ship split apart after being skewered on a rock at the entrance to Boemla fjord. But a delay of almost an hour between the grounding and the sinking gave passengers time to put on life jackets.
The lack of a passenger list from the ferry complicated rescue work. Worried relatives of victims, many of them weekly commuters going home for the weekend, were given two special phone numbers to call.
Jon Erik Hagen, head of the Coastal Directorate responsible for security along Norway's long rocky coastline and for marking shipping lanes, said plans to improve markings for ferry routes had not been carried through for financial reasons.
"Plans were laid in 1996 to upgrade markings for the fast ferries. But it has not been possible to carry out the plans because of stretched economics," Hagen told NRK radio.
Sleipner's sinking was the worst maritime accident off Norway since 158 people died when the Scandinavian Star caught fire south of Oslo after a suspected arson attack in 1990.
Sleipner's owners, Hardanger Sunnhordlandske Dampskipsselskap, said reasons for the accident were unclear.
Linga said the captain of the Sleipner had been interviewed in hospital on Saturday. He said it was too early to speculated whether there would be any criminal proceedings resulting from the accident.