South Korea will announce an open bid this week to select a company that will salvage a passenger ship that sank last year, killing over 300 people, the government said Thursday.
  

The process will begin Friday with an official announcement of the bid, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
  

The ministry plans to complete the process and sign an official contract before the end of July, a ministry official said, asking not to be identified.
  

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 at least nine bodies believed to be inside the ship.
  

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.
  

The ministry, as well as President Park Geun-hye, have said they will do their utmost to recover the bodies of those who still remain missing.
  

To this end, bidders for the salvage project will be scored largely on their capabilities to recover the ship intact while also preventing a leak of any remaining fuel from the ship, the ministry said.
  

Their bidding prices will account for only 20 percent of their final score, it added.
  

The government earlier said the work was expected to cost between 100 billion won and 250 billion won ($91.36 million-$228.4 million), partly depending on weather conditions in the work area known to be prone to strong winds and currents. (Yonhap)