SKorea raises sunken Sewol ferry
DONGGEOCHADO, South Korea: South Korea’s sunken Sewol ferry emerged from the waters Thursday, nearly three years after it went down with the loss of more than 300 lives.
Television pictures showed one side of the 6,825-ton vessel, its white struc between two giant salvage barges.
The complex operation—one of the largest raisings of an entire ship ever attempted— comes as the third anniversary approaches of one of the country’s worst-ever maritime disasters.
Almost all the dead were schoolchildren and it is thought that nine bodies still unaccounted for may be trapped inside the sunken ship. Raising the ferry intact has been a key demand of the families of the victims.
Several relatives watched the muchanticipated operation unfolding from a boat near the site.
“To see the Sewol again, I can’t describe how I’m feeling right now,” said Huh Hong-Hwan, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in the accident. Her body has not been found.
Huh and his wife have for years Jindo along with a handful of other relatives of missing victims. “It took so long,” Huh said. Another parent, Lee Keun-Hui, tearfully called for public support and prayers to help move the ship onshore intact and a full inquiry into the sinking “so a tragedy like this would never ever happen again.”
“It breaks my heart to see the ship coming up,” she said. “My daughter has been trapped in such a dirty, dark place for all these years.”
Other bereaved family members have kept watch at a camp on a hilltop on Donggeochado—the nearest island to the site, just 1.5 kilometers away.
Dozens of salvage operators walked over the hull after it came to the surface, television pictures showed.
“Workers are on the Sewol ferry to fasten it to the barge,” Seoul’s maritime ministry said in an emailed statement.
About 450 workers are involved in the Herculean efforts to lift the ship, which now weighs between 8,000-8,500 tons including the silt piled up inside.
Once the ferry is brought up suf a semi-submersible ship, which will carry it to the port of Mokpo.
“We believe that it will take about 12 to 13 days to lift the ship and move it to Mokpo,” said Lee charge of the operation.
The vessel was lying more than 40 meters below the waves off southwestern South Korea and the operation, originally scheduled for last year, had been pushed back several times because of adverse weather.
Protest site
The Sewol disaster left the country deeply traumatized and was a crippling blow to the now-ousted leader Park Geun- Hye, whose top court only two weeks ago.
She stayed at her residence for the updates and asking for guidance.
was doing for the seven hours, sparking wild rumors including a tryst and cosmetic surgery.
A permanent Sewol protest site targeting her was subsequently set up the head of state on display alongside pictures of the dead schoolchildren.
Investigations into the disaster, in which 304 people died, concluded it was largely man-made— the cumulative result of an illegal redesign, an overloaded cargo bay, inexperienced crew and a questionable relationship between the ship operators and state regulators.
Even though the vessel took around three hours to sink, many of those on board never heard any evacuation order, while the crew were among the
Captain Lee Jun-Seok was sentenced to life in prison for “murder through wilful negligence” and 14 other crew members were given terms ranging from two to 12 years.