The salvage teams are scheduled to continue their operations on the sunken Sewol ferry off South Korea’s southern coast next week, Channel News Asia cited the South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF).
The country noted that the operations could pose a number of challenges, mostly because of the upcoming monsoon season as well as the plans to lift the wreck in one piece in order to keep any remains of the still missing people inside the wreck.
South Korea launched the salvage of the 6,825-ton passenger ship on Sunday, but postponed all works a day later as the teams on site encountered inclement weather conditions.
The works should resume around June 24, when the weather is expected to improve.
South Korea initially planned to lift the wreck by the end of July, however, the authorities now said that the operations could take longer, wrapping up in August at the earliest.
A Chinese consortium led by Shanghai Salvage is undetaking the salvage operation of the Sewol ferry, which sank more than two years ago with over 300 people on board.
The operation on the 146-meter-long ferry, which lies in a depth of some 44 meters, is expected to cost around USD 75 million.
Sewol sank off Jindo Island on April 16, 2014, killing 304 people, 250 of which were high school students on a school trip.
World Maritime News Staff