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Seoul / AFP
A salvage firm on Sunday began a difficult and costly operation to raise a sunken South Korean ferry which capsized at sea more than two years ago in a disaster that shocked and enraged the country. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank off the southwestern island of Jindo in April 2014, with the loss of 304 lives—most of them schoolchildren. Bringing the ferry to the surface has been a key demand of some victims’ families, who hope nine bodies still unaccounted for may yet be recovered. The Seoul government last year announced plans to salvage the 6,825-ton ship and selected a Chinese consortium led by state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. to spearhead the $72 million project.
“The operation began at 2 p.m.,” Jung Seong-Wook, a bereaved family member who acts as a families’ representative for the salvage project, said. Jung was one of dozens of family members watching the work anxiously from fishing boats in foggy weather.