S. Korea announces bid for recovery of sunken ferry

South Korea has announced an open bid to select a company that will salvage the passenger ship that sank last year, killing over 300 people, the government said Saturday. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said it has allocated 100 billion won (US$91.6 million) for the bid announced late Friday, adding the work will require pulling the 6,825-ton ferry Sewol out of the water but also doing so without causing any significant damage to the ship as to prevent the possible loss of nine bodies believed to be inside. The candidates will be graded on a 100-point scale, with technological capabilities accounting for 90 percent of the evaluation. The bidding price will account for 10 percent of the final score, down from 20 percent anticipated earlier. A bidder who receives less than 76.5 points in technology will automatically be disqualified. Bidders also have to take possible delays due to weather into consideration when estimating their offering prices and must film the entire process in a high-resolution video that must be submitted later. The project must be finished by Dec. 31, 2016, but the government will make efforts to speed it up. The deadline to announce a bid is 6:00 p.m. on June 22, while a detailed plan is due by 2:00 p.m. the following day. The ship sank on April 16, 2014, while en route to the country's southern resort island of Jeju from the western port city of Incheon. Three hundred and four people, mostly high school students on a school excursion, have been confirmed dead with nine people still missing. (Yonhap) mhlee@ktimes.co.kr,