Dozens of relatives of the victims watched Friday as workers from a port in Mokpo conducted operations to dock the transport vessel that carried the Sewol, lying with its rusty blue bottom facing land.
Finding the remains of the missing victims would bring a measure of closure to one of the country's deadliest disasters.
Fisheries Ministry official Lee Cheoljo said they hope to move the ferry to the dry dock around April 6. "We will try to start (the searches) as early as we can.