S. Korea begins test- lift of sunken ferry

2014 Sewol disaster killed 304 people, mostly students

Salvage operators began a test- lift of South Korea’s sunken Sewol ferry Wednesday, officials said, nearly three years after the disaster killed 304 people and dealt a crippling blow to now- ousted president Park Geun- hye.

Emotional parents of victims – the vast majority of the dead in the country’s worst- ever maritime tragedy were schoolchildren – urged people to pray for a successful recovery.

The vessel lies more than 40 meters ( 130 feet) below the waves off southwestern South Korea and the operation, originally scheduled for last year, has been pushed back several times because of adverse weather.

It is thought that nine bodies still unaccounted for may be trapped inside the sunken ship, and raising the ferry intact has been a key demand of the victims’ families.

“I am a mother who just really misses her daughter. Please pray for us so we can go home with Eun- Hwa,” said Lee Keum- hui, one of a handful of relatives who have been living in makeshift homes at Paengmok, the closest port to the wreck, since the accident.

Other bereaved family members have been maintaining a vigil at a camp on a hilltop on Donggeochado, the nearest is- land to the site, just 1.5 kilometers away.

Yellow ribbons – a symbol for the victims of the deadly disaster – hang on nearby trees, their color faded by the course of time.

In a tense atmosphere, one victim’s father nervously watched through binoculars, trying to get a glimpse of the operation.

“We will not clear the camp even when the Sewol is raised,” he said, declining to be named. “You never know what you will find beneath the sunken ferry.”

Two enormous barges have been positioned on either side of the 6,825- ton ship and air bags inserted for the salvage effort, which is being led by a Chinese consortium.

Beams have been installed by digging through the seabed underneath the wreck, which is lying on its side, and cables attached to bring it painstakingly towards the surface.

Once two- thirds of it is exposed, a semi- submersible will be positioned underneath to raise it out of the water and transport it to the port of Mokpo to carry out investigations and search for the missing.