Relatives of more than 400 people missing after a cruise ship capsized on China’s Yangtze River were yesterday hoping for a miracle as authorities said they were racing against time to find any survivors.
State media said just 14 people had been rescued from the Eastern Star, which overturned late on Monday in a storm, leaving just a section of its hull protruding from the murky waters.
Another 19 bodies have been recovered, state broadcaster CCTV said, leaving hundreds of mostly elderly passengers still missing and possibly trapped within the ship, which witnesses said sank in a matter of seconds.
Photo: Reuters
A total of 456 people had been on board the vessel, which was plying a popular tourist route from the eastern city of Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing when it capsized in Jianli County in central Hubei Province.
The ship has 150 compartments and divers are searching each room one by one, while authorities have expanded the search to include areas around Wuhan, 220km downstream, CCTV said.
Engineers are looking at the possibility of cutting open the hull in three places or lifting the vessel into an upright position, but divers searching for survivors face extremely difficult conditions, the state broadcaster said.
“The river water in the area where the accident happened is quite muddy and there is virtually no visibility,” Chinese Ministry of Transport Rescue Department Deputy Director Zhang Jianxin (張建新) said. “Divers can only rely on touch while submerging, searching and rescuing.”
Security forces had erected a strict cordon about 2km from the rescue site and propaganda officials ordered all Chinese media outlets, except for Xinhua news agency and CCTV, to return home.
Yesterday, foreign journalists were allowed to join a tightly organized media tour on a boat that sailed past the ship.
About 36 hours after the accident, hopes for more survivors were dwindling.
“We are in a race against the clock in the search,” Chinese Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang (楊傳堂) said.
“It happened suddenly and the rescue has been quite difficult,” Yang said on Tuesday as driving rain hampered the search. “As long as there is the slightest hope, we will make every effort and never give up.”
Relatives were also refusing to abandon hope.
“I’m hoping for a miracle,” Tan Zhenxing, whose father worked on the boat, told the China Daily.
Early investigations showed the area where the ship sank was hit by a small and fast-moving tornado, China’s state meteorological bureau said on its Web site late on Tuesday.
The word used by the bureau can also be translated as “cyclone,” but the account strongly suggested it was a tornado.
The report matches an account given by the captain of the Eastern Star, who earlier said the vessel was hit by a “cyclone.”
Rescuers on Tuesday pulled at least three survivors from the wreckage after they cut through part of the hull to reach the interior of the vessel, but then worked through the night in vain.
Grim television images showed what appeared to be a dead woman being pulled from the water, her body already rigid.
Recent heavy rain brought by the storm was complicating rescue efforts.
Fields around the site were badly waterlogged, and many of the pathways used by rescue workers were ankle-deep in mud and rainwater.
Emergency vehicles heading out of a rescue center set up on the riverside had to pass through deep water.
Passengers seemed to have had little warning before the ship sank. Zhang Hui, a 43-year-old tour guide, told Xinhua he had “30 seconds to grab a life jacket.”
The captain and chief engineer, who were among the survivors and were being questioned by police, both reportedly said the ship was caught in a freak storm.
A local resident, surnamed Wang (王), said the storm on Monday night was the worst he had seen in many years.
CCTV said the 76.5m vessel floated 3km down river after it capsized. Local reports said the passengers were mostly aged 60 and older.
Condolences came from the US, the EU and the UN.
In Shanghai, where 97 of the passengers came from, the local government set up a reception center for relatives.
On Tuesday, the relatives complained about a lack of information on the fate of their loved ones.
Shanghai sent government representatives to the accident site, as well as a team of divers and workers with salvage equipment, local media reported.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other