A giant transport vessel carrying the Sewol ferry arrives in the southwestern port of Mokpo for the search of missing people.[Yonhap News Photo]
The Sewol ferry that was raised from the seabed three years after it sank with the loss of more than 300 lives was transported to a port Friday for the search of nine victims who were still listed as missing.
Escorted by coastguard boats, a giant transport vessel carrying the ferry reached a dry dock in the southwestern port of Mokpo where government officials, forensic experts and others would carry out a search and try to find the exact cause of the sinking.
The overloaded Sewol was carrying 476 people, including 325 students from a high school in Ansan, when it sank off the southwestern island of Jindo on April 16, 2014. Only 75 students survived. A total of 295 bodies were recovered.
The disaster -- blamed on the ship's illegal redesign and overloading left unchecked by regulators -- prompted calls to overhaul the nation's lax safety standards and tackle deep-rooted corruption. Government officials and coastguard authorities were criticized for failing to take quick steps.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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