South Korea’s two main rival parties, Saenuri and New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) agreed to pass a bill aimed to further investigate the April’s Sewol ferry disaster on Tuesday, but the bereaved families opposed the legislation, reports said.

According to some sources, both parties concede to follow the law and assign a special counsel -- comprised of government officials and rival party representatives-- but the deal halted due to the adverse reaction of the survivors and family members of other victims.

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The bereaved families called out for a transparent investigation to find out the truth behind the country's deadliest maritime accident, Reuters reported.

Yoo Gyoung-geun, the spokesman of the victims' families, told Reuters that they opposed the bill. He confirmed that both parties have not tried to communicate with them about the special Sewol law.

The families are experiencing distress because the Sewol ferry tragedy and they thought that politicians are just taking advantage of them for their election campaign, Yoo added.

One of the victims' families told Yonhap News Agency that the committee for the family of the victims gave demands to Kim Moo-sung, the Saenuri Party head.

The families wanted an independent team of experts, chosen by them, with the right to prosecute. But, unfortunately, their appeal were not recognized in the agreement, reports confirmed.

The contention of the victims' families is expected to further delay the passage of the Sewol
ferry bill. Based on the Yonhap News Agency reports, the current parliamentary session was due to end on Tuesday but a special session was likely to be met on August 25.

The Sewol ferry flipped and sank in the South Korea’s southwest coast on a routine journey last April 16, 2014 that killed more than 300 people, mostly students. The Sewol tragedy caused a huge setback towards President Park Geun-hye’s administration due to failure to respond properly to the disaster, reports said.

Tags ferry, Disaster, family