Salvage operation under way for South Korea’s sunken Sewol ferry as bereaved families wait for closure
Chinese salvage company prepares to raise ferry, which sunk almost three years ago, killing 304 people
Salvage operators began raising South Korea’s sunken Sewol ferry on Wednesday, officials said, nearly three years after the disaster killed more than 300 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 disaster were schoolchildren – urged people to pray for a successful recovery.
I am a mother who just really misses her daughter. Please pray for us
The vessel was lying more than 40 metres 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 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. “We will be grateful if you pray with us so that the last remaining victims can return to their families.”
Other bereaved family members have been maintaining a vigil at a camp on a hilltop on Donggeochado, the nearest island to the site, just 1.5km away.
