An investigation into the Sewol ferry sinking is scheduled to be launched in late May.
An eight-member panel, which would conduct the inquiry, was set up in March 2017 in an effort to find out the details which caused the ill-fated event on April 16, 2014.
Kim Chang-joon, the chairman of the board, was cited as saying that the authorities will allocate the budget and recruit officials in the meantime. He added that the members will discuss ways to check and review documents and reports on the incident, including the earlier investigations.
The ferry’s sinking off Jindo Island resulted in the deaths of 304 people, 250 of which were high school students on a school trip.
On March 23, 2017, the South Korean government managed to lift the wreck. The resting place of the 6,825-ton ship was some 44 meters below the surface.
A few days later, on March 31, the ferry’s wreck was transported to the Port of Mokpo on a semi-submersible vessel and moved into a dry dock at the port, the country’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in a statement.
An earlier investigation found that several factors had led to the sinking of the ferry, including an illegal remodeling of the ferry to increase the cargo load, cargo overloading, and the steersman’s poor helmsmanship.
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