by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
South Korea on Wednesday selected a Chinese-led consortium as the preferred bidder to raise the Sewol ferry that sank in April last year and killed more than 300 people, most of whom were high school students, reports the Associated Press.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced in a news briefing that it would begin negotiations next Monday with China’s state-run firm Shanghai Salvage Co., which offered to lift the ferry for 85.1 billion won (approximately $74 million).
Shanghai Salvage has experience in salvaging large vessels, including a river cruise ship that sank in the Yangtze River and killed more than 400 people last month, the oceans ministry said.
However, if negotiations with Shanghai fails, then the ministry will draft a new deal with its second option, China Yantai Salvage. Other bidders for the project include the United Kingdom’s Titan Maritime Ltd. and the Netherland’s Svitzer Salvage BV.
Last April, the South Korean government formally approved its plan to raise the 6,800-ton ferry off the southern coast of Jindo Island, after the victims’ bereaved families led a nationwide campaign for the ship to be salvaged. Thousands of protestors rallied at the Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Plaza on the maritime disaster’s one-year anniversary.
The oceans ministry originally planned to drill holes into the side of the ferry and lift the ship by using offshore cranes, but Shanghai Salvage disagreed with that tactic, claiming that the ferry was too corroded to be raised by just cables. Instead, the Chinese firm suggested raising the ferry with a frame built with metal beams, which would also make the project safer for divers, one ministry official told AP.
South Korea ended all underwater search operations for the missing victims in the sunken ferry last November. A total of 295 bodies were recovered, but nine still remain missing beneath a channel known for its strong, dangerous currents.
See Also
100 Days of Sorrow: The Most Powerful Words and Photos from the Sewol Ferry Tragedy
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Featured image via scale1981
