The wreck of the Sewol ferry, currently lying on its side at the southwestern port of Mokpo, is to be lifted into an upright position Thursday.

Workers were seen checking steel wires supporting the 6,800-ton ferry on Wednesday morning.

The Sewol ferry sank off the country’s southwestern coast near Jindo Island in April 2014, claiming more than 300 lives. It was salvaged from the seabed last year and placed on land in a port in Mokpo, not far from the site of the accident.

The Sewol Investigation Commission hopes that the remains of some of the victims will be found in the ferry. Five people are still missing from the deadly disaster, in which most of the victims were high school students on a field trip.

The entire process of erecting the ferry upright will take around four hours beginning from 9 a.m. Thursday, the commission said, citing the favorable weather forecast as the reason it picked Thursday for the operation. 

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)