Chinese consortium to salvage sunken South Korean ferry

Seoul

SOUTH Korean officials announced on Tuesday that a Chinese-led consortium had won the bidding to take on the massive task of raising the Sewol ferry that sank with the loss of over 300 lives a year ago.

The 6,825-tonne passenger ship sank off the country's southwest coast in April 2014. Most of the dead were children on a school trip. Nine remain unaccounted for in the accident, which deeply traumatised the nation, and the families of those still missing had led a campaign for the ferry to be brought to the surface.