Salvage workers saw several bodies inside a sunken naval ship on Thursday when they entered the stern of the 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette to install water pumps after a crane raised it from the sea.
It is believed that many of the vessel's 44 missing crew members have been trapped inside since it sank last month near the North Korean border.
South Korea began lifting the vessel on Thursday in waters near the tense border with North Korea, about three weeks after the ship went down following a mysterious explosion on board, according to AP.
Efforts to locate the 44 missing crew and salvage the wreckage of the 1,200-ton Cheonan has been impeded by high winds, a swift current and other bad weather conditions, the report said.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said a huge naval recovery-crane started hoisting the stern, where most of the missing sailors are believed trapped. Footage by SBS television showed the stern's upper part appearing on the sea surface, workers taking on the deck and using hoses to pull water out of it and lighten the weight.
The report said fully retrieving the stern, moving it onto a barge and searching for the missing crew are expected to take 11 hours. The stern is to be moved to a naval base to investigate the cause of the explosion while the rest of the ship is to be salvaged as early as next week, AP quoted JCS officials as saying.
Fifty-eight crew members were rescued shortly after the Cheonan split into two after exploding March 26 during a routine patrol. Divers have recovered two bodies.
No cause has been determined. There has been some suspicion but no confirmation of North Korean involvement in the sinking, which occurred near the two Koreas' disputed western sea border -- a scene of three bloody inter-Korean naval battles, the report said.
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