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Workers attach plastic tarps to the Sewol ferry to prevent the loss of victims’ belongings that are still inside the ferry

The Sewol ferry’s long journey has finally come to an end.

The conclusion of the ferry’s dry docking - which comes 1,091 days after its sinking and 11 days after the hull‘s arrival at Mokpo’s New Port - marked the beginning of full-scale efforts to recover the remains of nine still missing passengers and investigate the tragedy.

“The salvage effort was completed at 3:58 pm with the dry docking of the Sewol, which happened 613 days after the effort was launched on Aug. 7, 2015,” the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said on Apr. 11.

The Sewol‘s hull was successfully balanced in position on three 110-meter-long supports at around 10:20 am. By 4 pm, it had finished the salvage with the removal of 600 module transporters from underneath the hull. While some had predicted the dry docking would be completed by as early as 9 am, some delays reportedly occurred due to the removal of mud during the effort.

The completion of the salvage effort injected new momentum into the recovery of remaining passengers and an investigation into the sinking. A full-scale cleaning of the external hull is set to begin on Apr. 12. The move was prompted by concerns that the hull, weakened after three years underwater, could corrode quickly through contact with air after being moved onto land.

The ministry, which brought in and test-operated six high-pressure cleaners the day before for the hull cleaning effort, plans to cordon off the vessel’s interior and conduct hazard and stability examinations to ensure the safety of search personnel. Korea Salvage, which has been tasked with the hull servicing and cleanup effort, plans to position two working towers for search personnel access to the hull, one each at the Sewol’s bow and stern. To the skyward-pointed starboard side of hull, an access scaffold is being positioned at a height around one meter above the hull to allow workers to move in and out. The ministry said it plans to hold discussions with the hull investigation committee on creating entrances not only down from on top of the Sewol but also from either side or below so that workers can access the interior for their search efforts. The Sewol, which is currently at rest on its port side, measures 22 meters high vertically, or the equivalent of a nine-story building.

Preliminary efforts for the recovery of remaining passengers appear likely to take about one week.

“With the salvage effort finishing, the family members of the unrecovered victims have asked for a swift search,” the ministry said, adding that it would “produce a detailed search plan by as soon as early next week once the preliminary efforts are finished.”

Family members of the unrecovered victims requested meetings with Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Young-suk, hull investigation committee head Kim Chang-jun, and Korea Salvage president Ryu Chan-yeol, insisting that the search effort must be carried out as soon as possible.

“I was stunned to see a photograph of the hull’s interior, where it was impossible to even make out the individual cabins,” said Cho Nam-seong, 54, father of Danwon High School student Cho Eun-hwa.

“It worried me to hear that the hull had bent and twisted too much for additional movement. They need to hurry up and carry out the search before it becomes too risky to go inside,” Cho said.

Yu Baek-hyeong, 54, widow of teacher Yang Seung-jin, said it was “upsetting to see that the plates toward the stern are turning red with rust.”

“There‘s a lot of debris piled up inside the cabins, and air circulation is impossible. Things are going to be really bad once the temperature starts going up,” she sighed.

By Hwang Keum-bi, staff reporter and Ahn Kwan-ok, Gwangju correspondent, in Mokpo

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