Families of South Korea’s deadly Sewol ferry disaster victims watched the ship being lifted from the water on Thursday, March 23, after a three-yearlong wait.
The ferry was structurally unsound, overloaded, and traveling too fast on a turn when it capsized and sank during a routine voyage off the southwest coast on April 16, 2014. The accident killed 304 people, most of them children on a school trip.
Bereaved families have been calling for the ship to be raised and for a more thorough investigation into the disaster.
The bodies of nine passengers remain unaccounted for. Relatives are praying more bodies will be recovered during the salvage operation.
Some of the families have been monitoring the salvage work from a boat nearby.
Salvagers started to bring up the vessel, which had been lying on its side at a depth of 144 feet (44 meters), late on March 22, and worked through the night.