Capsized British Ferry Righted; Divers Search for More Bodies

Salvage teams used floating cranes and giant barges to right a capsized British ferry Tuesday, and navy divers went inside the hull to search for the bodies of up to 150 people trapped inside.

Officials said divers reported seeing as many as 50 bodies in the upper decks after the ship was pulled upright in a nine-hour operation.

Paul Ellis of Townsend Thoresen, the ferry’s owner, said the divers would work through the night to bring out bodies spotted on the upper decks, where most passengers were traveling when the ferry capsized March 6.

Sixty-one bodies were recovered in the first days after the disaster. The 7,951-ton Herald of Free Enterprise heeled over on its port side in about 30 feet of water off this North Sea port after leaving Zeebrugge harbor for Dover, England, with more than 540 people aboard.

Authorities say 348 people survived but concede their count may be wrong.

Up to 100 salvagers worked earlier Tuesday in intermittent rain on calm seas as the orange, white and green ferry slowly emerged from the cold and murky sea.

Two huge barges and three floating cranes towered over the ferry and began pulling the ship onto its keel by gradually raising tension on hundreds of yards of cables attached to it in recent weeks.

For hour after hour, the ferry, held steady by 10 anchors, was slowly rolled onto its keel.

The two pulling barges winched themselves toward 16 pilings driven into the seabed, dragging cables attached to the ferry’s starboard side. Three cranes on the other side gave extra lift. The smallest of the three was withdrawn halfway through the operation after officials said they were past the maneuver’s critical phase.

The operation took place just outside the navigation channel leading into the harbor and did not interfere with ships entering and leaving the port.