SEOUL, April 4, 2010 (AFP) - South Korea prepared Sunday to salvage a warship that sank more than a week ago near a disputed sea border with North Korea after calling off a dangerous operation to rescue its missing crewmen.
The operation stopped at the request of relatives of the missing sailors late Saturday after rescuers recovered the first body from the sunken warship, military officials said.
"The rescue operation has been called off. The military will do its best to salvage the ship together with civilian experts," defence ministry spokesman Yoon Won-Shik told reporters.
Navy officials said it would take weeks to lift the ship from the sea floor.
The 1,200-tonne Cheonan, crewed by 104 sailors, broke in two and sank on March 26 after a mystery explosion near the maritime border in the Yellow Sea.
A total of 58 people were rescued from the bow section of the 88-metre (290-foot) warship soon after but efforts to locate the missing 46 crew were hampered by bad weather and strong currents.
Navy officials said the body of Senior Chief Petty Officer Nam Ki-Hoon was retrieved from the petty officers' mess hall of the sunken corvette.
After receiving confirmation of Nam's death, the families of the missing crew asked the military to halt the rescue.
"We decided to request the military to stop the search and rescue operation and begin work to salvage the hull," Choi Soo-Dong, representing the families, told reporters.
"Divers must not be sacrificed any more," he said.
A navy diver died last week during the rescue operation.
Officials are still searching for answers as to what caused the ship to break in two in the murky waters off Baengyeong Island.
Military and presidential officials have dismissed media reports that the ship had been tracking North Korean submarines at the time.
Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young said Friday a torpedo might have sunk it but did not indicate who might have fired one.
Seoul has not cited any evidence that the North was involved, although the defence minister earlier in the week said a North Korean mine -- either drifting or deliberately placed -- might have caused the disaster.
The disaster site is close to the disputed border which was the scene of deadly naval clashes between North and South Korea in 1999 and 2002 and of a firefight last November.
South Korea's navy, backed by fishing boats and US military divers, had been struggling against high waves and strong currents to explore the hull of the warship where many of the missing sailors could have been trapped.
A 2,000-tonne sea crane to be used to recover the wreck arrived Saturday near the site where the warship went down. The navy said a US landing ship was also ready nearby.
Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering said its 3,600-tonne crane would join the salvage operation.
A total of four giant cranes and three barges will be used to lift the front and rear sections of the sunken corvette from the sea floor, navy officials said.
The area around where the Cheonan went down has been crowded with ships and aircraft combing the sea.
Two people including an Indonesian sailor died and seven were missing after their fishing boat, which had been helping in the search, collided late Friday with a Cambodian-registered freighter, coast guard officials said.
The missing also included an Indonesian fisherman, they said.
The body of Nam has been transferred via helicopter to a naval command in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul.
But at his family's request, his funeral will be delayed until the fate of his missing colleagues is confirmed, navy officials said.
