April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Part of the sunken Sewol ferry surfaced above the water between the two salvage barges lifting the vessel on March 23, almost three years after it sank off waters off Jindo, South Jeolla Province.

With some of the bereaved families watching from boats near the site, salvage operators worked overnight to lift the 145-meter-long, 6,825-ton ferry which had been lying at a depth of 44 meters after it sank on April 16, 2014. Among 476 passengers, 304, mostly high school students, lost their lives. Nine are still unaccounted for.

At around 3:45 a.m., the right side of the ferry’s structure was seen above water between the two salvage barges, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said.

As of March 23 afternoon, about 6 meters of the central part of the hull had surfaced above the water.

Despite drizzle, salvage operators said they aim to complete lifting the hull and dock it onto the semisubmersible vessel by March 24, as the neap tide is expected to end before the weekend, which would make it difficult to work in the strong current.

“We were expecting to see about 13 meters of the hull of the ferry above the surface by this morning, but due to delayed preparations, we may see it by late today or at midnight,” the Oceans and Fisheries Minister Kim Young-seok told the reporters during the briefing.

“We have completed tying the hull to the salvage barges after it was lifted 24.4 meters off from the seabed this morning. We will once again try to tie it when the ship is lifted 35 meters, if there are no complications, by tonight,” he added.

The ministry said the ship was being raised at an average of 3 meters per hour.

Salvage operators said it would take about a week to properly dock the ship on the semisubmersible vessel for transportation and to drain the water. The transport vessel will then deliver the ferry to a port in Mokpo, some 87 kilometers from the site.

It is expected to take around 12-13 days for the entire process, the ministry official said.

Once the ship is transported to a port in Mokpo, authorities will try to find the remains of missing passengers and determine why the ship sank.

Prior to the actual lifting of the ship, the ferry was carefully test-lifted 1 meter from the sea bottom on March 22, so experts could see if the vessel was ready to be raised.

The ship, lying on the sea floor on its left side, would normally weigh 8,300 metric tons according to the ministry, but water, stones and sand inside has increased that to about 20,000 metric tons.

The government announced the salvage operation plan in 2015, but bad weather and high tides have several times delayed the resumption of operations to raise the wreckage of the ship.

By Kim Da-sol/The Korea Herald (ddd@heraldcorp.com)