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Underwater inspection to salvage Sewol begins
A barge and a towing vessel of Shanghai Salvage arrive at the scene of the ferry Sewol disaster in the waters off Jindo, South Jeolla Province, Sunday. Underwater inspections began Wednesday for the one-year project to raise the sunken ferry. / Yonhap
By Kim Se-jeong
Chinese divers examine condition of ferry
By Kim Se-jeong
A Chinese salvage company has started its underwater operation to recover the wreckage of the ferry Sewol.
The Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries said Wednesday that dozens of divers from Shanghai Salvage consortium dived into the sea off Jindo, South Jeolla Province, at around 2 p.m.
This comes 490 days after the tragedy took place on April 16 last year, and 281 days since the Korean authorities stopped searching for missing passengers on Nov. 11 due to the water temperature.
The divers started the inspection using a “sea base” which Shanghai Salvage constructed using a barge, a tugboat and other equipment last week. The consortium has brought in 96 divers for the complex operation. They will study the condition of the ferry and the notoriously strong water currents there.
The findings of the 10-day study will be used to set the exact details of the salvage plan. Minister Yoo Ki-june visited the inspection site to encourage the divers and check on the working conditions.
According to Shanghai Salvage, the ferry will be lifted using metal beams. It will be a historic mission because no salvage project has ever lifted a ferry as heavy as 6,700-tons without cutting it into separate parts. With water inside, the ferry Sewol is estimated to weigh almost 8,500 tons.
The government decided to lift the ferry as one entire structure because it doesn’t want any of the bodies of the nine missing people to drift away during the salvage process.
The team will pump air into the wreckage using specialized marine salvage airbags to make it float above the seabed. Huge metal beams will then be installed underneath the ferry. The cranes will lift the ferry using the beams 23 meters above the seabed. At that level, the ferry will be placed onto a submerged platform that will be used to bring the ferry to the surface.
The government aims to complete the project before July next year, but due to mitigating factors such as the weather, it may take more time.
The consortium led by the Chinese government-owned Shanghai Salvage signed the 85.1 billion won contract to recover the ferry with the Korean government earlier this month.
Families of the victims and citizens gathered on the island with placards wishing for the safe recovery of the nine bodies. Many family members were outraged over the slow development of the salvage process. The final plan was not announced until April this year, almost one year after the incident.