Salvage of South Korean Ferry Sewol Delayed

The salvage of the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol is behind schedule and expected to face a delay of about one month, government authorities said Thursday.

The South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that work conditions at the wreck site of the Sewol – including strong, changeable currents and low visibility – have made every aspect of the salvage time-consuming and difficult.

The area of the wreck site is known for its underwater currents, and two divers died in the search and rescue response to the Sewol's sinking; two dozen more rescue divers were treated for injuries or decompression sickness.

“We are not yet sure when the salvage operations will conclude, but we are hoping to complete it before the storm season [in summer],” an official said.

Salvage divers needed extra time to grow accustomed to the difficult conditions below, officials said: it took twice as long as planned to remove bunkers, and three times as long to cover the ferry in a netting intended to keep debris – and unrecovered human remains – from falling out of the wreck as it is raised.

The government has faced strong pressure from families of the deceased to recover the ship and the bodies of the missing. Shanghai Salvage Company, a Chinese state-run consortium, was hired to lead the effort in September, for a contract price of $73 million.

Shanghai Salvage had projected that the salvage operation would be completed by July 2016. The company planned to use two 10,000 ton cranes and about 200 workers, including 100 divers. The wreck will be lifted whole, reflecting the government’s priority on recovering remains of the deceased.

The firm's contract requires milestone completion for payment, in three phases. The first payment was to follow loss prevention and oil recovery. The second will be paid after the ferry is lifted and docked, and the final payment will be made after the ferry is brought ashore for demolition.

Over 300 died in the Sewol disaster, and most of those lost were high school students. The accident sparked a nationwide wave of outrage directed at the ferry's operator, her crew, and at South Korea's maritime regulators. Accident investigators said that the 7,000 dwt Sewol was carrying twice its permitted cargo tonnage at the time of its capsize, and that crew had emptied ballast water in order to compensate for the overloading. The resulting reduction of the ship’s stability was found to be a key factor in the disaster. Inquiries found that the ferry's operators were aware of routine overloading aboard the vessel, and that regulators did not take action to correct this practice.

The captain was sentenced to life in prison, the court saying that he “knowingly and totally abandoned his role when he left the ship fully aware that passengers would drown.” Dozens of officials and company officers have also been prosecuted in relation to the sinking.