A jacking barge works in an operation to lift a sunken ferry.[Yonhap News Photo]
The passenger ferry that sank three years ago with the loss of more than 300 lives, most of them schoolchildren, was lifted by one meter from the sea floor Wednesday, allowing divers to make a visual examination, officials said.
The test lifting involving two giant jack-up barges was done at 3:30 pm (0630 GMT), the maritime ministry said, adding salvage workers are now involved in sensitive work to balance the ship.
Government officials were cautious in lifting the Sewol ferry which sank in waters off the southwestern island of Jindo on April 16 2014. About 20 support vessels, backed by two helicopters, are on standby, along with a semisubmersible ship that will carry the ferry to the southwestern port of Mokpo.
"We must double-check the situation in the water through a visual examination," Lee Chul-jo, a maritime ministry official in charge of the historic task, told reporters.
A semisubmersible vessel is on standby to carry a sunken ferry in waters off the southern island of Jindo.[Yonhap News Photo]
Without cutting its body, the 145-meter-long vessel will be raised. Divers have closed all openings of the ship to inject air into tanks inside and install large airbags and other devices. It will be the world's first case under which such a large vessel will be elevated without splitting the hull.
Along with a substantial technical challenge, work has been hampered by a tough environment such as strong currents and limited working hours because the Sewol lies 45 meters down on the seabed.
The task has been led by China's state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. with a history of receiving good marks for its experience in salvaging sunken vessels. The company has used a frame built with metal beams on the sea floor instead of drilling holes into its side.
The overloaded Sewol was carrying 476 people, including 325 students from a high school in Ansan, when it sank. Only 75 students survived. A total of 295 bodies were recovered, but nine remained unaccounted for. At initial salvage operations, strong currents and muddy waters at the site of the sunken vessel left two divers dead and dozens injured.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
