Further delays ahead before sunken Sewol ferry gets raised from seabed

Workers so far have attached 20 steel ‘lifting’ beams to the ship, but installing another six in the stern has proved ‘extremely difficult’, Maritime Minister Kim Young-Suk says

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Rescue operations are underway after the ferry Sewol sank in waters off Jindo Island, in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea, in 2014. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:01pm, 17 Oct 2016Updated: 8:01pm, 17 Oct 2016

South Korea says efforts to lift the Sewol ferry that sank more than two years ago may drag on into next year, with salvage operations hampered by poor visibility and the sheer scale of the undertaking.

The 6,825 tonne vessel was carrying 476 people when it capsized and sank off the southwestern island of Jindo in April 2014.

In what swiftly became one of the country’s worst maritime disasters, 304 people died – the majority of them high-school students on an organised trip.

The salvage project, carried out by a Chinese-led consortium, began in mid-June with the ambitiously optimistic target of bringing the ferry to the surface by the end of July.

Salvaging the Sewol was a key demand of the families who hope nine bodies still unaccounted for may yet to be recovered. Photo: EPA

With work suspended numerous times due to bad weather and other issues, the timeline for raising the Sewol was repeatedly put back to August, September, and then October.

In an interview with KBS TV aired on Sunday, Maritime Minister Kim Young-Suk suggested further delays lay ahead.