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Seoul / AFP
South Korea said on Thursday it would resume salvage operations on the Sewol ferry next week, but underlined the enormous challenges posed by raising the vessel that sank in 2014 with massive loss of life.
The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it went down off the southwestern island of Jindo, leaving 304—mostly school children—dead in one of the country’s worst maritime disasters.
Nine bodies still unaccounted for are believed to remain trapped inside the sunken ship, and raising it intact was a key demand of the victims’ families.
The 6,825-tonne ferry lies more than 40 metres below the surface and the process of actually lifting it off the seabed began on Sunday—only to be postponed a day later due to adverse weather conditions. The bow was raised about five meters but part of the deck was damaged by underwater wires in the rough conditions. “The operations will resume around June 24 when the currents slow,†the ministry said in a statement.