Search for missing bodies makes progress
By Kim Bo-eun
As the search team has recovered several missing bodies of the sunken ferry Sewol in the past weeks, attention is growing over the whereabouts of other remains.
Search officials said Wednesday they found an ID of Lee Young-sook, one of the unaccounted for passengers, from human remains found on the third level of the ferry, in dry dock at Mokpo New Port in the southwestern city on Monday.
The remains were recovered, “clothed” in a top and bottom as well as a life vest. The ID card was found in the clothes.
Search officials said they will be able to confirm the remains are that of the person on the ID card after the National Forensic Service conducts a DNA test.
Lee was on her way to Jeju on the ferry Sewol to meet her son there. The ferry sank off the coast of Jindo, an island in South Jeolla Province, on April 16, 2014, the same morning it departed from Incheon.
Meanwhile, inspections confirmed a gold tooth, which was found on the ferry’s third level on May 16, as that of Huh Da-yoon, a Danwon High School student who is among the school’s 250 students who died in the sinking while on a school trip.
Bones recovered from the site of the Sewol’s sinking on May 5 have been confirmed after DNA tests to belong to Ko Chang-seok, a physical education teacher at Danwon.
On May 13, remains that are presumed to belong to Cho Eun-hwa, another Danwon High School student, were found on the fourth level of the ferry. The presumption is based on the fact that her bag was found in the same compartment. Authorities are conducting dental inspections and DNA tests to confirm the identity of the remains.
There are still five bodies that are unaccounted for _ those of two male students and a teacher of Danwon, and a father and son.
Initial search operations have been completed for 24 of 44 areas on the third to fifth floors of the ferry. The search team will continue removing obstructive matter from the third and fourth levels and search for human remains, while conducting drilling operations to enter the center of the third level.