The sunken ferry Sewol began to emerge from water after a massive salvage operation yesterday. 

This was three years or 1073 days after one of South Korea’s biggest maritime disasters, when the ship sank in April 2014 and left more than 300 dead or missing.  

The salvage operation is aimed to protect and find remains of the people still missing dead in the sea, including nine high school students, and to determine the why the ship sank. 

Part of the ship began to emerge from water at 3:45am as the two salvage barges lifted the 145-meter, 6,8250-ton ship that was lying 40 meters under water at the southwest coast, near the island Jindo. 

“Part of the Sewol’s structure, which is believed to be its stabiliser, was seen above the water with naked eyes,” an official of the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry said. 

“It will take about eight days to life the ship and move it to the port. And it will require four additional days to move it onto a dry dock,” the official added. 

After the ship is lifted, it will be moved onto a semisubmersible ship to be carried to the port of Mokpo. 
The 85.1 billion won (US$72 million) project to recover the ship is conducted by a China’s state-run company, “Shanghai Salvage”.