Authorities said Tuesday they have found what appears to be remains of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster, nearly three years after it sank with over 300 passengers trapped inside. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries was still verifying the discovery to determine whether the remains are of any of the nine passengers not recovered.

The National Assembly on Tuesday passed a law to establish a special committee to oversee the search of the Sewol ferry, which was recovered from the sea last week, almost three years after its sinking during the nation’s worst maritime disaster. 


The corroded wreckage of the ill-fated ship is currently sitting on a transport vessel off Jindo, South Jeolla Province, waiting to be delivered onto shore later this week.

The search of the ferry’s interior for missing passengers and any hint of why it sank is to begin once preparations are done.

Sewol, a 6,800-ton passenger ferry, was carrying 476 -- mostly high school students on a field trip -- when it ran aground and sank off the southwestern island on April 16, 2014. Just 172 passengers were rescued. Nine are still missing.

What caused the sinking and why the authorities failed to rescue so many remain as unanswered questions to many South Koreans, despite the government’s official investigation. The government’s botched rescue was part of the reason why former President Park Geun-hye was impeached by the parliament, although the Constitutional Court in its decision to finalize her removal did not see it as an impeachable charge.

In 2014, state prosecutors had concluded that a combination of overloaded freight, a displacement of cargo and an erroneous sharp turn by unskilled helmsmen was the cause of the disaster. The following year, the Supreme Court acquitted the helmsmen, dismissing the prosecution’s claim as lacking proof. It sentenced the ship’s captain to life in prison for abandoning the ship, which was listing at that time, without rescuing passengers.

On Tuesday, the parliament also named five members to the committee, who will work with three others appointed earlier at the recommendation of an association of the victims’ families.

They include a lawyer and a former researcher and professor of the Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology, according to parliamentary officials.

The eight-member committee will work over the next 10 months to oversee the reinvestigation, help determine the exact cause of the accident and bring those responsible to justice, the officials said.

From news reports (khnews@heraldcorp.com)