Body found in sunken Sewol, six months after ferry sank off South Korea coast

The first body found in three months was being recovered Tuesday from the sunken South Korean ferry, increasing the official death toll to 295, officials said.

The government task force said in a statement the body was found around a women’s toilet in the ship. The badly decayed body was being pulled up to the surface and DNA tests were planned to identify the victim, according to task force officials.

The Sewol ferry sank in April. The body is the first recovered since July 18.

Nine victims are still missing. Searches of the ferry wreckage have been ongoing since the disaster, and family members of the missing people have urged that the underwater search effort continue.

A lawyer for the family members said Monday they rejected a proposal to hoist the ship. They worry over a possibility the remaining bodies would be swept away or damaged.

Most of the ferry victims were teenage students who were on a school trip to a resort island.