South Korea’s prime minister resigned yesterday over the government’s handling of a ferry sinking that left more than 300 people dead or missing and led to widespread shame, fury and finger-pointing, blaming “deep-rooted evils” in society for the tragedy.

South Korean executive power is largely concentrated in the president, so Chung Hong-won’s resignation appears to be symbolic.

Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said President Park Geun-hye would accept the prime minister’s resignation.

The move comes amid rising indignation over claims by victims’ relatives that the government did not do enough to rescue or protect their loved ones. Most of the more than 300 dead or missing were high school students on a school trip.

Officials have taken into custody all 15 people involved in navigating the ferry Sewol, which sank on April 16.

A prosecutor said investigators were also looking into communications between a crew member and the company that owns the ferry as the ship sank.

The prime minister was heckled by victims’ relatives and his car was blocked when he visited a shelter on an island near the site of the sinking a week ago.

He told reporters in Seoul yesterday: “As I saw grieving families suffering with the pain of losing their loved ones and the sadness and resentment of the public, I thought I should take all responsibility as prime minister.

“There have been so many varieties of irregularities that have continued in every corner of our society and practices that have gone wrong. I hope these deep-rooted evils get corrected this time and this kind of accident never happens again.”

Meanwhile, senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin said that two helmsmen and two members of the steering crew who were detained on Saturday had been formally arrested. Eleven other crew members, including the captain, were arrested earlier.

Yang also said that a crew member called the ship’s owner, Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd, as the ferry was listing, but declined to disclose whether the caller was the captain.

Local media reported that the captain called for company approval of an evacuation. Prosecutors said they are analyzing the content of communications between the ship and the company.

The arrested crew members are accused of negligence and of failing to help passengers in need. Captain Lee Joon-seok initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and took half an hour to issue an evacuation order, by which time the ship was tilting too severely for many people to get out.

Divers have recovered 188 bodies and 114 people are believed to be missing, though the government-wide emergency task force has said the ship’s passengers list could be inaccurate. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members.

The seven surviving crew members who have not been arrested or detained held non-marine jobs such as chef or steward, Yang said.

The captain said after his arrest that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for passengers’ safety in the cold, swift water. Crew members have also defended their actions.

Despite bad weather, dozens of divers planned to continue underwater searches for the missing yesterday, said Ko Myung-seok, a spokesman for the emergency task force.

Students from Danwon High School in Ansan, a city near Seoul, made up more than 80 percent of the dead and missing. They had been on their way to the southern tourist island of Jeju.