SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea formally announced on Wednesday that it would try to raise the 6,825-ton ferry that sank more than a year ago, killing more than 300 people, most of them high school students.

The overloaded ferry Sewol capsized off the southwestern tip of South Korea last April, and it now lies on its side about 145 feet underwater. Rapid currents and poor visibility complicated the monthslong underwater search of the ship, which ended in November after 295 bodies were recovered.

Bereaved families have demanded salvaging the ship in hopes that the bodies of nine people still missing, including four teenage students, will be found inside.