The first stage of the search of the ferry Sewol wrapped up Tuesday with five passengers remaining unaccounted for.

During the 63-day search of the ferry’s wreckage, which was brought onshore on April 9, the remains of four of nine unaccounted for passengers were identified. During the first stage, about 120 search operators sifted manually through bags of mud retrieved from the third to fifth decks of the ferry, where cabins are located.


The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said it would resume the second part of the search involving the first and second decks -- the cargo compartment of Sewol -- soon and complete it by late August.

On May 17, the first human bone discovered on the sea bed where the Sewol sat was identified to be from Danwon High School teacher Go Chang-suk, one of the nine missing passengers, through a DNA test by the National Forensic Service.

In addition to Go, the remains of two Danwon High School students and those of a female passenger have been identified.

The remains of those three victims were discovered in bedrooms on the third and fourth floors where most of the Danwon High School students stayed on the day of the sinking. The ministry said the five other missing bodies are believed to be in that area.

As of Monday, workers had found a total of 4,101 personal belongings, including school bags, pens, wallets and cellphones.

The Sewol ferry sank on April 16, 2014 off Korea’s southwestern coast while on its way to Jeju Island. A total of 304 people, most of them high school students on an excursion, died in the incident.

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