Shanghai Salvage Co. has sent two salvage ships, Dali and Huahe, and manpower to lift the Sewol ferry, which sunk off southwest coast of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in April last year.

The two ships left Shanghai for Jindo Island on Aug.12, where the 68,255-ton Sewol lies 44 meters deep on the sea bed.

It is so far the hardest and most demanding task Shanghai Salvage Co. has ever undertaken. According to the site condition, the salvage efforts will last about a year. The consortium of Shanghai Salvage, with the ROK company Ocean C&I, beat seven other consortiums to win the bid in early August.

Sewol, carrying 475 people, mostly high-school students, capsized on April 16, 2014, leaving at least 304 people dead. A total of 295 bodies were recovered, but 9 remained unaccounted for after divers called off the dangerous search of the sunken vessel last November.