Sewol to be docked Thursday
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Recovery workers prepare the ferry Sewol to be moved to a dry dock, Monday, at Mokpo New Port, South Jeolla Province. / Yonhap
By Lee Kyung-min
Module transporters that will move the ferry Sewol into a dry dock will be tested Wednesday, according to the government.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Monday that of the 456 transporters needed, 342 were delivered Sunday with the remaining 182 due today.
The transporters, divided into six rows of 76, will move the ferry from the semisubmersible recovery ship, to which Sewol is secured, to the dry dock.
The work should be complete by Saturday, when the first neap tide of the month is forecast to end. Otherwise, the ministry will have to wait 15 days for the next tide when the least wave interference is expected.
The ministry, with the agreement of the special investigation committee late Sunday, began drilling 21 holes to facilitate the draining process to reduce the weight of the ferry by at least 460 tons.
“Given that the module transporters can carry only up to 13,000 tons, the ferry, currently weighing 13,460 tons, needs to have water drained through the holes,” said Lee Cheol-jo, the ministry official overseeing the salvage operation.
After the drilling, more than 80 recovery workers will continue to remove the sludge from the deck of the transport vessel that seeped from the Sewol, a task to be completed by midnight tonight. Maneuvering the transporters under the Sewol is impossible without removing the mud, the ministry added.
The recovery crews, under the supervision of National Forensic Service officials, will collect the mud for further content analysis as it could contain the remains of the nine victims unaccounted for.
Almost 50 objects have been recovered in the mud as of 5 p.m. Sunday.
Among what are believed to be personal belongings of those aboard the Sewol are cosmetic products, nine diaries, stationery, a blanket, a pair of shoes, a sweater, a tie and a cell phone.
Those were in addition to the passport and a credit card that belonged to ferry captain, Lee Joon-seok, recovered in the early hours of Sunday. Lee is serving a life sentence at the Suncheon Correctional Institution in South Jeolla Province, after the Supreme Court upheld a high court ruling in 2015 that found him guilty of murder, negligence and dereliction of duty.
Nine bone fragments discovered alongside Lee’s personal belongings were initially announced as human bones but the forensic service officials said hours later they are believed to be from animals, a second such corrective assessment following a similar lapse by the ministry, March 28.
The ministry said it will start focusing on an underwater search of the seabed where the ferry was lying, Wednesday, in an effort to recover the remains of the nine.
Twenty divers in teams of two will work shifts to closely inspect the area where a 200-meter-long, 160-meter-wide, 3-meter-high fence was set up earlier.