The National Forensic Service conducted tests and confirmed them as animal bone fragments, the maritime ministry said. The Sewol sank off Jindo island on 16 April 2014, killing 304 people, almost all of them children.
The bodies of nine people were never found. Relatives have campaigned hard for them to be recovered. The ship was raised last week after almost three years on the sea floor and put onto a platform to be towed to port.
Early on Tuesday, South Korean officials said bones had come out of a window of a passenger room during work to drain the ship.
At a press conference, Lee Cheol-jo of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said tests were needed to determine whether they came from one or more individuals.
But in a subsequent late-night statement, the ministry said the bones were not human.
Can there ever be complete closure for those who lose their loved ones? Perhaps “closure” is a rationale we force upon ourselves and others, so we can make the motion of closing one chapter and moving onto the next. But in reality, the next chapter is never so cleanly divided from the darkness of the past. The Sewol has…
One of the “Missing 9” bodies from the Sewol Ferry tragedy have finally been found by the Onsite Rescue Team. 1,123 days after the Sewol Ferry disaster, the remains of 17-year-old student Jo Eun Hwa have been discovered. They were found after the Sewol Ferry was lifted to the surface, three years after the tragedy. Jo…
A worker stands on the partially-submerged wreck of the Sewol ferry as it is lifted between two Chinese salvage vessels off the coast of the southern South Korean island of Jindo on March 23, 2017. PHOTO: AFP DONGGEOCHADO, SOUTH KOREA (AFP) – South Korea’s sunken Sewol ferry emerged from the waters on Thursday (March 23), nearly three…
Not forgotten. (EPA/Jeon Heon-kyun) December 09, 2016 South Korea’s parliament voted today by a large margin (Dec. 9) to impeach president Park Geun-hye, weeks after news of her connection to a shaman-like confidante who wielded immense influence came to light. The vote comes after six straight weekends of large-scale protests in Seoul and other…
The South Korean Supreme Court sentenced the head of a ferry operator to seven years in jail for the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster. In this photo, relatives of victims onboard sunken ferry Sewol holding victims’ portraits attend a protest rally in central Seoul, April 5, 2015. Photo: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji The Supreme Court of South Korea sentenced…
Sewol Ferry Disaster: Justice for the Victims and their Families! Last week marked the one year anniversary of the Sewol Ferry Disaster. I had the opportunity to listen to two women speak who both lost their children that day. One of the woman’s children has yet to be recovered and returned to her family. The…
SEOUL, South Korea – The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing about 300 people apologized in court on Wednesday for his failure to rescue passengers in the country’s worst maritime disaster for decades. “I have committed a grave crime. I am sorry,” Lee Joon-seok, the 68-year-old captain, was quoted as saying…
South Korea’s Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won resigned on Sunday amid public anger over the sinking of a Sewol passenger ferry, admitting that he had not been up to the task of overseeing rescue operations for the 476 people on board. More than 300 people, many of them high-school students, have been confirmed dead or are…
