Monday, Apr. 20, 1987

World Notes DISASTERS

Inch by inch, the half-submerged wreck of the Herald of Free Enterprise rose out of the icy gray-green North Sea off Zeebrugge, Belgium. It had taken less than a minute for the ferry to keel over and partly sink on March 6, trapping passengers and crew inside. Last week it took 8 1/2 hours for nearly 100 salvage workers using powerful machinery to right the ship.

Inside, divers found that the original death toll of 134 was sadly understated. Crews discovered more than 110 bodies in addition to the 61 recovered on the night of the disaster, and authorities said the final total could approach 200. Divers found one young couple locked in a final embrace, and the body of a child of about eleven still clutching her doll.