New search begins for missing

Sewol passengers
 Yeo Jun-seok

Korea Herald/ANN

Seoul | Mon, April 3, 2017 | 05:50 pm

In this photo provided by South Korean ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, relatives of the missing victims watch
the sunken ferry Sewol sitting on a semi-submersible transport vessel while they attending religious services on
a boat, in waters off Jindo, South Korea, on March 28, 2017. (Via AP/South Korean Ministry of Oceans and
Fisheries)
As engineers proceeded Sunday with preparations to move the ill-fated ferry ashore,
currently loaded on a semisubmersible transport vessel at Mokpo Port, South
Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced a plan to resume an underwater
search of the wreck site.
Starting from Sunday night, 50 divers were to begin work in rotation to search the
seabed area of about 32,000 square meters, where the sunken Sewol lay for nearly
three years until it was lifted out of the water last week.

In order to prevent the victims’ bodies from being lost during the lifting process,
salvage engineers installed an underwater steel fence 200 meters long, 160 meters
wide and 3 meters high. The area inside the fence was divided into 40 sections for
detailed search.
“The maritime search operation inside the fence should begin tonight,” said Lee
Cheol-jo, an official from the Oceans Ministry who oversees the salvage and search
operation.

But the official cautioned that strong tide in the area might prevent active searching by
divers. “We have strong tides today and may face difficulty diving,” Lee added.

Sewol sank nearly three years ago in the nation’s worst peace-time maritime disaster,
leaving over 300 dead, mostly high school students on a field trip. Nine passengers are
still unaccounted for. The search for those missing has been on hold since November
2014, when the government decided to salvage the ship without cutting it into pieces.

On Sunday, some belongings of Sewol passengers were found as engineers worked to

remove mud from the recovered ferry, which was transported to Mokpo Port on
Friday. The ship is expected to be moved to a dry dock Thursday.

Among objects found were handbags, cards and pens, which presumably belonged to
the victims, as well as the passport of the ship’s captain Lee Jun-seok, who is in prison
on a life sentence for abandoning the ship and its passengers.

The search team also found fragments of animal bones on the ferry’s deck Sunday,
where the team had found pieces of animal bone last week. The authorities had
initially thought the pieces came from victims until the forensic experts said
otherwise.

The government began the work of bringing the Sewol ashore by sending the first
batch of transporters to pull the wreckage out of the transport vessel carrying it. The
whole package of transporters is expected to arrive Thursday.

About 80 workers will be deployed to remove the mud and the whole process will be
conducted manually, the ministry said, citing concerns that remains of the victims or
their belongings, if any, could be damaged during the search operation.

“We are going to proceed cautiously and slowly,” said Lee. “It is not something that
requires high-level expertise. What’s more important is how we handle (the situation),
when we come across bodies.”