Diver Inspections Kick Off Sewol Salvage Project in South Korea

A group of divers started preliminary inspections of the sunken Sewol ferry in South Korea on Wednesday, marking the primary on-site operations within the effort to lift the vessel for the reason that award of the salvage contract earlier this month.

South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries says that about 12 divers from the China-led Shanghai Salvage consortium had been within the water Wednesday afternoon to examine the situation of the ship. The preliminary inspections are anticipated to take about 10 days and can assist to additional develop the salvage plan.

The South Korean authorities finalized its contract with the consortium led by state-run Shanghai Salvage for the salvage venture. The consortium beat out six others competing for the tender with a bid of 85.1 billion gained ($74 million) and a plan that concerned lifting the sunken vessel in a single piece.

So far the consortium has mobilized a barge on website that may function the on-site headquarters all through the venture and tugboat.

The preliminary salvage plan requires the Sewol to be partially raised utilizing airbags and the ships personal buoyancy in order that it may be moved onto a metal platform, which can then be lifted by cranes. The wreck lies at a depth of 44 meters.

The Sewol ferry sank April 19, 2015 close to Jindo, South Korea with the lack of greater than 300 lives, most of them highschool college students on a category journey. The our bodies of 9 victims have nonetheless not been recovered.