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The raised hull of the Sewol ferry at Mokpo New Port. (Hankyoreh archives)

The final search following the sunken Sewol ferry’s upright mounting has come to an end.

“What will effectively be the last search of the hull has finished,” the local recovery headquarters of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries follow-up measure implementation team for the Sewol declared on Oct. 19.

“We intend to continue through late October finishing up with the clearing of obstacles such as mud taken from the hull,” it added.

Despite the hull’s search being completed, five victims of the sinking remain undiscovered: male Danwon High School students Nam Hyeon-cheol and Park Yeong-in, teacher Yang Seung-jin, and Kwon Jae-geun and his son Hyeok-gyu.

The headquarters previously resumed their search for the missing five passengers after raising the Sewol upright in May and completing security measures for workers on June 25. The search focused on the roughly 10 percent of the hull that could not be searched while the vessel was lying with one side against the ground. The headquarters’ examination over this period include deck storage at the vessel’s bow, the compartment holding the anchor chain, and the chimney used to discharge exhaust gas from the engine.

The headquarters recovered one human tooth bone on Aug. 31, but DNA testing by the National Forensic Service confirmed it to belong to one of the previously recovered victims. The search was initially scheduled to end on Aug. 21, but ended up extended until Oct. 19 due to unforeseen broadening of the effort’s scope and demands from the family members of the as-yet unrecovered passengers.

The main search of the Sewol’s hull began in Apr. 2017 after the sunken Sewol was raised and mounted at Mokpo New Port. The remains of four of nine unrecovered passengers were found over the course of the three subsequent searches. Although the search is now finished, the Sewol’s hull is to be left in its position at Mokpo New Port for the time period to allow the second special Sewol commission to examine the hull.

By Bang Jung-ho, staff reporter

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