Anchor: Efforts to salvage the sunken Sewol ferry have begun in earnest to retrieve the bodies of nine missing passengers who were aboard the vessel when it capsized nearly two years ago. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has forecast that the ferry will be pulled out of the water around July if weather conditions are suitable. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report: Active efforts have begun to raise the six-thousand-825-ton Sewol ferry that is currently 44 meters deep underwater off Jindo Island in South Jeolla Province.
 
Iron fences have been put around the vessel to prevent any bodies that remain inside from drifting away when the ship is salvaged. Currently, efforts are being centered on securing buoyancy.
 
The government is aiming to lessen the weight of the ferry’s body underwater from 83-hundred tons to 33-hundred tons by installing airbags both inside and outside the ferry and by injecting air into the ferry’s internal tank.
 
With such efforts, the government is seeking to lift the bow of the ship next month and install a lifting beam under the ship’s body in June. The beam will play the role of holding up the ship during the salvage process so that the vessel won't be damaged.
 
Then the ferry’s body will be loaded onto a floating dock while under water and will be pulled out from the water around July before being transported to the shore.
 
Such a process is unprecedented in the world. Usually, large ships that are underwater are salvaged after being cut into pieces. The latest process was chosen to prevent the loss of bodies.
 
Salvage efforts are expected to face difficulties as currents flow between zero-point-19 and one-point-27 meters per second and underwater visibility is between zero-point-two and one meter in the waters where the ferry went down.

The Sewol ferry sank in waters off Jindo on April 16th, 2014 and left 304 people dead. Most of the deaths were of high school students on a field trip.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.