REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ANSEONG - Thousands of South Korean police and prosecutors raided a sprawling religious compound for a second time on Wednesday in their search for an elderly businessman linked to a ferry disaster that reduced the nation to tears.

But the businessman, Yoo Byung-un, also a photographer who was once jailed for fraud and is now South Korea's most wanted man, was nowhere to be found. Yoo, in his 70s, co-founder of the church which owns the website www.god.com, is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion stemming from a web of business holdings centered on I-One-I, an investment vehicle owned by his sons that ran the shipping company, Chonghaejin Marine.

Chonghaejin owned the Sewol which sank off the southwest coast on April 16 on a routine journey from Incheon on the mainland to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers from the same school. Only 172 people were rescued and the remainder are all presumed to have drowned.

The raid came a day after 15 crew went on trial in a court packed with angry parents of the children who died. Four crew face homicide charges after they were seen escaping the sharply listing vessel as the children stayed in their cabins as told.

Helicopters flew overhead as officers moved from building to building at the site, believed to cover the size of a dozen soccer pitches, with church members in pursuit, some singing hymns, others chanting "Let's fight with prosecutors and police!"

About 6,000 officials took part in the raid, three weeks after an initial search of the compound.

Chonghaejin Marine did not answer phone calls on Wednesday, while two other firms related to Yoo had no comment on questions as to his whereabouts.

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