South Korea: sunken Sewol ferry pulled up
Three years ago, the Sewol ferry disastrously capsized and drowned killing over 300 people aboard in one of the country's worst maritime accidents. The wreckage has now been pulled back to the surface.
1,073 days under water
South Korean salvage workers on Thursday managed to lift the sunken ferry back up, exactly 1,073 days after it sank. Images showed one side of the 145-metre-long, 6,825-ton ship above the waves between two giant salvage barges. A consortium led by China's state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. was awarded the 85.1 billion won ($76 million, 70 million-euro) contract in 2015 to salvage the ship.
A technical feat
The process began last year with divers installing a total of 33 "lifting beams" underneath the wreck - often by digging through the seabed below the ferry. The lifting beams were then linked on both ends by 66 steel cables to two giant barges floating on either side of the vessel, which since Wednesday have pulled up the cables in tandem.
Hope for victims
South Korea has said the most important goal of the salvage is to search the giant ferry for the bodies of nine victims still unaccounted for. This has also been a key demand of the victims' families. Once it's at the port, investigators will search the interior for bodies or clues to what caused sinking. The photo here shows a family member overseeing the rescue work from afar.
A catastrophe
Over 300 people, most of them students on a school trip, died when the vessel sank on April 16, 2014, into violent seas off the nation's southwestern coast. While the exact cause of the accident is still unclear, it is widely blamed on overloaded cargo, improper storage and other negligence.
Sluggish rescue
The ferry captain, Lee Joon-seok, abandoned the ship while most of the passengers were still on board. He was later sentenced to life in prison for "murder through willful negligence" and 14 other crew members were given terms ranging from two to 12 years. The public outrage over what was seen as a botched rescue job by the government contributed to the recent ouster of Park Geun-hye as president.
Shipped to Mokpo
Once the wreck is raised to 13 meters, it will be moved onto a semi-submersible ship, which will carry it to the port of Mokpo, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) away. The whole process, which involves emptying the Sewol of water and remaining fuel once it's loaded on that semi-submersible vessel, is expected to take about two weeks.