Seoul – A salvage firm Sunday began a difficult and costly operation to raise a sunken South Korean ferry which capsized at sea more than two years ago in a disaster that shocked and enraged the country.

The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank off the southwestern island of Jindo in April 2014, with the loss of 304 lives – most of them schoolchildren.

Bringing the ferry to the surface has been a key demand of some victims’ families, who hope nine bodies still unaccounted for may yet be recovered.

The Seoul government last year announced plans to salvage the 6,825-ton ship and selected a Chinese consortium led by state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. to spearhead the $72 million project.

“The operation began at 2 p.m.,” Jung Seong-Wook, a bereaved family member who acts as a families’ representative for the salvage project, told AFP.

Jung was one of dozens of family members watching the work anxiously from fishing boats in foggy weather.

Preparatory work was completed early in the morning, with the salvage firm’s main crane positioned near the bow and several cables attached to the ferry.

The lifting of the bow section – which will be conducted over the next two days – is seen as the most challenging part of the operation.

S Korea ferry disaster: 1 year on

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AFP, Reuters

“This operation takes up about 70 percent of the overall salvage project,” Jung said.

Once the bow is lifted, work to place 18 lifting beams beneath the ferry will begin.

If the lifting operation goes announced smoothly, the Sewol may be brought to the surface by late July.

The Sewol lies more than 40 metres (130 feet) beneath the surface, and officials say lifting the 145-metre-long vessel from the seabed without causing it to break up will be the main challenge.

A naval architect involved in the project put the success rate at 80 percent at a press briefing in April, saying lifting a wreck in one piece from such a depth had never been done before.

The disaster was mainly due to human error – an illegal redesign of the ship, an overloaded cargo bay, inexperienced crew and a questionable relationship between the ship operators and state regulators.

Captain Lee Jun-Seok was sentenced to life in prison for “murder through wilful negligence” and sentences ranging from two to 12 years were passed on 14 other crew members.

Taipei – Taiwanese authorities on Sunday refused former president Ma Ying-jeou permission to visit Hong Kong, citing national security considerations.

Ma, who stepped down on May 20 after eight years, applied to the presidential office early this month for permission to make a trip on June 15 to the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city.

He was to deliver a keynote speech at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards.

Ma, an advocate of rapprochement between Taiwan and China, was to have spoken about cross-strait relations and the Northeast Asia situation, according to his office.

But the office of new President Tsai Ing-wen, from the China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), rejected his application, which was reviewed by a special panel grouping senior officials from various government agencies.

“The presidential office has decided not to approve the former president’s application,” Tsai’s spokesman Alex Huang told reporters.

Huang termed Ma’s application as “sensitive”, “unique” and “crucial in a national security perspective”.

“The former president had been in charge of or in contact with massive amounts of top state secrets, and the plan came about less than a month since his retirement,” Huang said.

“Hong Kong has been a highly sensitive area considered from Taiwan’s national security point of view,” he said, adding Ma must respect a state secrets law introduced in 2003.

Ma’s office strongly condemned the decision, saying the purpose of the planned trip was transparent. The suggestion that secrets might be leaked “is disrespect of a retired president and has damaged the international image of Taiwan’s freedom and democracy”.

Ties between Taiwan and China have become frosty since Tsai won the presidential election in January, as Beijing does not trust her independence-leaning party.

China and Taiwan split in 1949 at the end of a civil war but Beijing still considers the island part of its territory awaiting reunification – by force if necessary.

Tensions eased markedly and 21 agreements between the two former bitter rivals were signed during Ma’s tenure.

But public sentiment in Taiwan has recently turned against closer ties with Beijing, with voters saying trade deals have been agreed in secret and not benefited ordinary citizens.

Shanghai – A man hurled home-made explosives at the main international airport in China’s commercial hub of Shanghai on Sunday, injuring four others, and then attempted suicide, the local government said.

The unidentified man removed a beer bottle or bottles with explosive materials from a backpack before throwing it near a check-in counter of Terminal Two at the Pudong International Airport, the Shanghai government said in a statement.

He then took out a knife and slashed at his neck, it said, adding the man is now in critical condition and is being treated at hospital.

His motive was not described. There have been several cases in China of disgruntled individuals setting off explosions or starting fires in revenge for perceived wrongs.

Four passengers were injured in the incident, said the statement posted on the Shanghai government’s official microblog.

The official Xinhua news agency said the injured included a man from the Philippines, as well as a 67-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman – both described as Chinese.

Blast from “suspected homemade explosives” rocks Shanghai airport

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Sina Weibo

Online video clips showed dense grey smoke rising to the ceiling of the cavernous terminal, and paramilitary security forces rushing into the building immediately after the incident.

Photos posted online by those claiming to be witnesses showed police keeping people back from the scene and abandoned luggage littering the floor.

The incident came as people returned home after a public holiday and just days before Thursday’s opening of a Disney theme park in Shanghai.

In a similar incident, a wheelchair-bound man from southern China detonated a homemade bomb at Beijing international airport in 2013 as a protest at alleged police brutality.

The man, Ji Zhongxing, was later sentenced to six years in jail.

Last year an unemployed man set off an explosion at a public park in the eastern province of Shandong, killing himself and another person and wounding 24.