SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Four bodies believed to be crew members of a South Korean waste disposal ship that went missing early Sunday morning have been found in waters off the Dokdo islets in the East Sea, local media reported Thursday.

    The Donghae Coast Guard found the bodies wearing lifejackets carrying the ship's name -- Hwangyeong-1, near 17 km off the islets around 1:35 p.m. local time on Thursday, South Korea's state broadcaster KBS reported.

    The 118-ton ship, which departed its home port in Pohang, southeastern coast of the country on Oct. 12 for collecting disposed fishing nets in the area, issued a distress call around 1:37 a.m. Sunday when it was heading to Ulleung Island to take shelter due to abominable weather conditions.

    The Coast Guard launched a search and rescue after receiving the distress call. It believed the ship have sunk as the rescue group only spotted in the area a thin belt of oil.

    The search operations are continuing currently to look for the last missing crew member.