A page has been closed on the Sewol ferry tragedy, which claimed 304 lives on April 16.

On Tuesday, the Gwangju District Court sentenced the captain of the Sewol, Lee Joon-seok, to 36 years in jail, following a five-month trial for him and 14 other crew members. Lee was acquitted of murder charges while the ship’s chief engineer was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Other crew members received terms ranging from five years to 20 years.

Earlier in the day, the government announced that it was ending the search for the nine victims still missing after nearly seven months. In making the announcement, Maritime Minister Lee Ju-young cited worsening conditions for those involved in the search operations as temperatures plummeted and currents grew stronger with winter fast approaching. The vessel’s interior that is steadily collapsing also posed great danger for the divers.

The families of the missing victims issued a statement expressing their wish that no more people suffer the loss that they have been dealt, referring to the dangerous working conditions for the divers participating in the search operations. Two divers have died during the rescue operations. The families reached their heart-wrenching decision after nearly a month of agonizing discussions.

Our hearts go out to the families who had their loved ones taken away so suddenly in such a senseless, needless tragedy. It is shameful that it took a tragedy of such magnitude and the loss of so many young lives for the country to realize what perils we courted by overlooking collusion between businesses and authorities, circumventing the law, and ignoring safety rules and regulations. The country paid dearly for this lesson, with the sacrifice of so many young lives that had yet to bloom.

The government estimated that some 620 billion won would have been spent by the time the Sewol tragedy is settled, including salvaging the ship.

Salvaging a ship of this size ― 6,825 tons ― has never been attempted in Korea and experts are not certain about the costs and the duration of the operation. Given the 100 billion won to 200 billion won estimate, some are already questioning the need to salvage the hull, citing instances abroad where families consented to leaving a sunken ship on the seabed.

In their statement, the families of the missing victims called on the government to discuss salvage methods with them, expressing hope that all measures would be taken to find the remains even as salvage operations take place.

The next page in the story of the Sewol disaster will involve what to do with the ship, how to compensate the victims’ families, and discovering what happened on that fateful day through an appeals process, a truth commission and a special prosecutor.

In a society deeply rooted in Confucianism, burying the dead without the body is a grievous wrong. As discussions about salvage operations take place, the tremendous loss these families suffer and the depth of the grief they endure each and every day should not be lost on anyone ― not the authorities, not the media and not the public.