Corroded ferry loaded onto transport vessel

Salvage crews towed a corroded 6,800-ton South Korean ferry and loaded it onto a semi-submersible transport vessel Saturday, completing what was seen as the most difficult part of the massive effort to bring the ship back to shore nearly three years after it sank.

Government officials say it will take a week or two to bring the vessel to a port 90 kilometers (55 miles) away so investigators can search for the remains of nine missing people who were among the 304 who died when the Sewol capsized on April 16, 2014.

Most of the victims were students on a high school trip, touching off an outpouring of national grief and soul searching about long-ignored public safety and regulatory failures. Public outrage over what was seen as a botched rescue job by the government contributed to the recent ouster of Park Geun-hye as president.

“We just got over one hump ... we are trying hard to stay calm,” Lee Geumhee, the mother of a missing schoolgirl, told a television crew.