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Part of Sunken Dashun Refloated
Part of the ship Dashun, which has been upside down for more than six months in the Yellow Sea, was refloated Thursday.
On November 24, 1999, the ferry capsized in the Yellow Sea while travelling from Yantai in East China's Shandong Province to Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province. Of the ship's 302 passengers and crew members, only 22 survived.
According to the rescue team, Dashun sunk more than 4 metres into the sand and the silt around the sunken ship was more than 1 metre deep.
Due to the strong winds, the refloating work could only start from April 10.
In the past month rescue workers divided the ship into two parts since it was too heavy for the salvage ships to lift.
Sponsored by the Ministry of Communications and the State Salvage Commanding Centre, Yantai salvage and Shanghai salvage companies co-operated in the work.
Eight of the best salvage vessels in the country participated in the project. More than 300 seamen and technicians were on hand.
At 10:40 am Thursday, part of the Dashun finally was raised with the help of four pair of 800-ton floating barrels.
About one-third - the stern - still remains underwater. It is not clear when work will start to refloat the rest of the ship.
New techniques were used during the salvage operation. Workers transported 6,000 cubic metres of plastic particles from Shanghai inside the ships to add more buoyancy.
With the wind between 4 to 6 force, conditions were okay for beginning the reflotation work.
The Dashun had four decks, with the bottom two used to carry automobiles, the third deck for cargo trucks and the fourth deck for passengers.
Three hours after it left Yantai that day, it caught on fire in the lower deck as the ship was battered by storms and towering waves. Later the fire spread to other parts of the ship, causing it to break apart and sink in the icy water.
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