Efforts to lift the "Sewol" started on March 22 at 10:00 a.m. following several hours of careful examination of the weather conditions because the sea had to be fairly calm. Waves had to be under one meter and the wind speed needs to be below 10 meters per second. At 3:30 p.m., the ferry was carefully test lifted one meter from the sea bottom, and salvage workers carried out balancing procedures before committing themselves to pulling the hull out of the water. Divers also checked the underwater situation to make certain that the operation went smoothly. All technical aspects and local weather conditions were reviewed at the time of lifting. The upper part of the hull emerged from the water before 4 a.m. on March between the two jack up barges, having been brought up from depth of 44 metres. The hull, coated in mud and sediment, was flanked by the winching barges. At around 3:45 a.m., the starboard side of the ferry was seen above water. Until 2 p.m. about six meters of the central part of the hull had surfaced above the water. Workers then halted the process for several hours after the ferry began rubbing against the pulleys and other equipment on the two barges that are raising it with cables. The problem has been reduced following operations to better balance on the ferry. The operation to hoist the upper part of the hull some 13 meters above sea level was expected to be finished by late afternoon at the earliest. Despite drizzle, salvors aimed to complete lifting the hull and dock it onto the semisubmersible vessel by March 24, as the neap tide was expected to end before the weekend, which would make it difficult to work in the strong current. Salvors have completed tying the hull to the salvage barges after it was lifted 24,4 meters off from the seabed in the morning. They will once again try to tie it when the ship is lifted 35 meters, if there were no complications by tonight. The ship was being raised at an average of 3 meters per hour. The Chinese salvage company has fitted 33 beams beneath the hull with 66 hydraulic jacks inching the ship up. The ferry would be raised as high as 13 metres above the surface of the sea and then moved onto a semi-submersible vessel which was positioned nearby. Once secured on its deck, it would then be taken to the nearby port Mokpo, but that could take up to 12 or 13 days. Only when the ferry has been brought to port, she will be inspected. When the ship sank on April 16, 2014, 304 of the 476 passengers, 304, mostly high school students, lost their lives. Nine are still unaccounted for. After the ferry safely has left the accident site, divers will search carefully for any remains left in the water and on sea floor. Underwater fences surrounding the area where the "Sewol" sank have been set up. Zhe Seoul government ksf decided to raise the ferry intact in order to protect any remains of people still missing from the tragic sinking and carry out a detailed investigation into the ship's sinking. The US$72 million project to recover the ship was being conducted by a Chinese consortium led by China's state-run Shanghai Salvage.
ACCIDENTS
23 March 2017 - 14:00
Update: 23 March 2017 - 22:47
Ferry Sewol emerged above the surfacce
Ferry emerged above the surfacce
ACCIDENTS
23 March 2017 - 14:00
Update: 23 March 2017 - 22:47
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