The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Thursday that a human bone discovered from inside the ferry Sewol on May 10 was identified to be from Danwon High School student Cho Eun-hwa, one of the nine passengers missing from the disaster in April 2014.

Cho is the third victim to be identified since a search of the recovered wreckage began in April. The two already identified are Danwon High School teacher Go Chang-suk and student Heo Da-yoon.


The search team still needs to find the remains of six more victims, including two other Danwon High School students.

The ministry said it is awaiting the National Forensic Service’s DNA analysis on remains found near where a passport of Lee Young-sook was earlier discovered.

Authorities said the search team has completed about 50 percent of work on the third and fourth decks of the ferry, where passenger cabins were located.

Meanwhile, an independent fact-finding committee investigating the disaster was set to meet Friday to discuss how to proceed with their probe into the Sewol sinking.

The committee, launched in April with eight members appointed by the National Assembly, said that it will review data restored from three to four mobile phones collected from the site of the sinking and inside the salvaged ferry.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)