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Bad weather halts search for ferry victims for three days

May 12, 2014

A relative of a passenger aboard the sunken Sewol ferry weeps as she awaits news on her missing loved one at a port in Jindo, South Korea.

JINDO, South Korea, May 12 (Yonhap) — The search for victims of last month’s ferry sinking was suspended Monday for the third consecutive day amid unfavorable weather conditions.

A joint team of civilian, government and military rescuers said both the underwater and aerial search operations have been suspended since early Saturday, with 29 people still missing.

The 6,825-ton ferry Sewol was carrying an estimated 476 passengers when it capsized and sank off the southwestern island of Jindo on April 16. A total of 172 people were rescued on the day of the sinking, but 275 of the passengers, mostly high school students on a field trip, have been found dead.

Despite lifting of a high wind-high wave alert for the area as of 7 a.m. Monday, the operation remained suspended, the team said, adding that it will resume the search as soon as the weather improves.

A total of 128 divers will work in shifts to mainly search convenience facilities comprising singing rooms, a dining hall and a lounge on the fourth and fifth decks, the team said.

Amid mounting fears that walls of some of the area on the floors may collapse, the team said the divers will find an alternate route to break in.

“The team is mulling entering the multiperson suite on the fourth floor of the left side of ship’s stern by removing obstacles and breaking the wall with iron levers,” Koh Myung-suk, a senior Coast Guard official of the team, told a press briefing.

The vessels taking part in the search operation and divers are also on standby in waters near the sinking site, the team said.