Nearly two weeks after a sightseeing boat capsized on the Danube River, taking the lives of dozens of South Korean tourists... salvage crews in Hungary are finally set to raise the wreckage.
Kim Mok-yeon reports.
Hungarian authorities announced that salvage operations of the sunken Hableany tourist boat will officially begin at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, which is 1:30 p.m. here in South Korea.
Salvage crews have finished binding four wire ropes to the hull of the boat, and have made all the necessary checks and preparations for the lifting.
"The checks have been made, the wires are in the right place under the boat, they are connected to the barge, therefore the ship can be lifted soon."
They also banned airplanes, helicopters and drones from flying near the accident area until Sunday to prevent any possible disturbances to the process.
The plan is to slowly lift the boat by around 5 centimeters at a time in order to ensure what's inside the boat does not get dislodged in the process.
Once Hableany is raised from the floor of the river, a joint inspection team of Hungarian and Korean officials plan to search for any bodies that may be inside the vessel.
The search for the bodies has been on hold for the past two days with 7 Korean passengers and the Hungarian captain still unaccounted for.
The salvage operation is to be carried out privately with more than 40 family members of the victims in attendance.
Meanwhile the bodies of four Korean victims along with two survivors arrived back in Korea on Monday.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.
