Ferry ‘tomb’ emerges from depths
SUNKEN SOUTH KOREAN FERRY EMERGES THREE YEARS AFTER DISASTER
Almost three years after the
South Korean Sewol ferry disaster that killed 304 people, authorities have raised the sunken ship to the surface.
THE DISASTER
Most of the people who died were students on a high school trip. The overcrowded Sewol ferry sank in violent seas off the coast of South Korea on April 16, 2014. It has since been lying in 44 metres of water.
SALVAGE OPERATION
Salvaging the huge, corroded 6,800-ton ferry from a channel notorious for dangerous currents has been a difficult and expensive job. South Korea agreed in 2015 to a US$76 million deal with a consortium led by China’s state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. to do it.
Workers on two barges began the salvaging operation Wednesday night, rolling up 66 cables connected to a frame of metal beams divers spent months placing beneath the ferry.
While many large shipwrecks around the world have first been cut into sections to be raised, this was never an option for Sewol because there are hopes of finding the remains of missing victims inside the wreckage. Some 450 workers, including more than 50 divers, have been involved in the operation.
THE MISSING
The bodies of 295 passengers were recovered after the sinking, but nine are still missing. Relatives, some of whom were watching from two fishing boats just outside the operation area, hope those remains will be found inside the ferry. Some cried as they took turns watching the emerging wreckage with telescopes. “I shouted in joy when we heard that the ship surfaced at dawn. I thought we finally can find the missing nine,” Lee Geumhee, the mother of a missing schoolgirl, told a television crew. “But when I actually saw the ship coming up, I was devastated. All this time my poor child was in that cold, dirty place. It was heart wrenching.”
A GLITCH
But just when it seemed that the salvaging operation was going smoothly, workers discovered that a vehicle ramp was unlocked and dangling from the ship’s left side. Divers were trying to cut off the ramp with welding equipment because it wasn’t possible to fit the ferry into a transport vessel with the ramp hanging down. The salvage operation was halted Thursday night and would resume Friday morning, said officials. Salvage crews hope to load the Sewol onto a semi-submersible, heavy-lift vessel that would carry it to a mainland port.
INVESTIGATION
If the Sewol is successfully loaded onto the transport vessel, it would take days to empty the ferry of water and fuel, and another two weeks for it to reach a port about 90 kilometres away in the city of Mokpo.
Workers will then begin clearing mud and debris and search for the remains of the missing victims. An investigation committee will also search for clues that could further explain the cause of the sinking, which has been blamed on overloaded cargo, improper storage and other negligence.