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Over 20 companies in bid for Sewol salvage

Over 20 companies in bid for Sewol salvage
As many as 27 salvage firms are in a bidding war for the $185m project to recover sunken South Korean ferry Sewol.

The operation to raise the vessel, which claimed more than 300 lives when it capsized and sank in April last year, many of them children, is slated to begin in September.

The plan includes moving the wreck, currently resting 44 m below sea level, to shallower waters using cranes, from where it can be hoisted onto a floating dock. The operation is expected to take at least a year to complete thanks to the vessel’s advanced age and “severely weakened” structure.

Salvage companies bidding for the job will be scored 90% on a scale of their technical capability, with the actual bidding price accounting for the remaining 10% of the score.

Priority has been placed on the care of the salvage, in case any of the bodies, nine of which remain unaccounted for, are lost.