A giant offshore crane began raising a sunken naval ship Thursday, nearly three weeks after the vessel mysteriously sank near the tense sea border with North Korea.
The wreckage is believed to be holding dozens of missing sailors and clues as to what caused the 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan to break in two and sink on March 26.
A third and last chain was tied around the stern of the broken ship lying about 25 meters under water Wednesday night so that a giant offshore crane can lift it onto a barge. The 2,200-ton crane began raising the broken ship at 9 a.m., one of a few lulls in strong tidal currents in the area for the day.
It is expected to take about 11 hours to pull the wreck out of water, placing it onto a barge and then searching for the missing sailors, as extreme caution is needed to make sure nothing goes wrong in handling the heavy craft.
Weather was fine in the area off South Korea's northernmost island of Baengnyeong Thursday.