SEOUL: Salvage workers who raised South Korea's sunken Sewol ferry found bone fragments on Tuesday believed to be from victims missing since the 2014 disaster, the maritime ministry said, reports AFP.
The wreck was brought to the surface last week in a complex salvage operation, nearly three years after it went down with the death of more than 300 people, and placed onto a semi-submersible ship that will finally bring it to shore.
Almost all the victims were schoolchildren and nine bodies were still unaccounted for, raising the prospect that they could still be inside the vessel and leaving their families emotionally trapped in the grieving process.
Six fragments of bone ranging in length from four to 18 centimetres were recovered on the deck of the semi-submersible Dockwise White Marlin, Lee Cheol-Jo, a senior official in charge of the salvage operation, told reporters.
"They are suspected to have been found among sand that leaked out from an opening at the entrance of the vessel or through a window," Lee said.
Officials from the National Forensic Service as well as the coast guard and the health ministry have been dispatched to identify the remains, a process expected to take around two to three weeks, Lee said.