Families keep hopes for 9 missing passengers

This photo featuring clouds in a ribbon shape was taken by Kim Tae-yeon, a Wonju resident in Gangwon Province, Wednesday evening. Kim said she spotted the cloud on her way home from work. /Yonhap

By Kim Se-jeong

The families of nine missing passengers of the sunken Sewol ferry kept their hopes up on Thursday for the possibility of retrieving what’s left of their relatives’ bodies after three years.

The nine include Hur Da-yoon, a Danwon High School student from Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, her schoolmates and a Vietnamese immigrant. The Vienamese mother was moving to Jeju Island with her family including a five-year-old child ― the child was the only one in the family to survive.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries made it clear that the recovery is their priority.

“The search for the nine is the most important task,” Vice Minister Yoon Hag-bae said, Thursday. “Based on testimonies of witnesses, we have estimated where we might possibly find the bodies. We expect they can be found near the ship’s stern. But that part is dented at the moment. It is a delicate process.”

The ferry is expected to arrive at the Mokpo Port in two weeks, if everything goes as planned. However, it will be a while until the search crew can be allowed in.

First, it will have to pass a safety test ― experts said the 30-year-old ferry lying under salty water for three years can be in an extremely weak condition.

Also, the government may separate the entire passenger rooms section from the rest of the ship. Given that the ferry is currently lying on its side, the separation is necessary, according to the government Altogether, the ministry projects the process will take up to six months.

It’s unclear if the family members agreed on the plan. The ministry initially planned to cut the ferry into pieces but backed off after facing strong opposition from the families who reportedly wanted the ferry to be kept in its current shape ― the families even requested the court’s intervention to block the government’s initial plan. They claimed any form of dissection can make it difficult to find the cause of the sinking.

The families are still subject to bad surprises. It’s unclear whether all nine are still in the ferry. Many worried in 2014 the bodies might have been washed away in the waters through broken windows and holes created by rescue divers. Waters there have notoriously strong currents and the six-month search failed to find them.

On Thursday, the ministry said it was making sure nothing would go missing during the salvage process. The salvage team installed nets outside broken windows and holes on the ferry and set up nets near the ferry site. “The divers will search the seafloor when the ferry is moved away.” Vice-Minister Yoon said.