Gov’t announces end to search operations on sunken ferry

November 10, 2014
A man breaks down after checking the list. (Yonhap)

A man breaks down after checking the list. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — The government on Tuesday announced an end to its near seven-months-long search for people still missing in April’s deadly ferry sinking off the country’s southwest coast.

The 6,825-ton ferry Sewol sank in waters near the southwestern port of Jindo on April 16 en route to the southern resort island of Jeju, with many teenage students on a field trip aboard the ship. Nine people remain unaccounted for.

The decision came after a meeting of related government ministers presided over by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won.

Late last month, divers searching the sunken ferry recovered the body of one female student, bringing the official death toll to 295.