Rescuers yesterday fought stormy weather as they searched for more than 400 people, many of them elderly tourists, missing after a cruise ship capsized on China’s Yangtze River.
The accident on Monday night is likely to end up as China’s worst shipping disaster in almost 70 years.
Divers and other rescue workers rescued 15 people they found trapped in the upturned hull of the four-deck Eastern Star, a fraction of the 458 people that state media said were on board when the ship capsized in what officials called a tornado.
Photo: AFP
Distraught relatives of passengers scuffled with officials in Shanghai, where many of those on board booked their trips, angry about what they said was a lack of information.
Dozens of rescue boats battled wind and rain to reach the ship, upturned in water about 15m deep.
Xinhua news agency said rescuers could hear people calling for help from inside the hull, while TV news showed rescuers cutting through it with an angle grinder.
Photo: AFP
One of the people pulled from the capsized boat was a 65-year-old woman. Divers used breathing gear to bring her to the surface.
About another dozen had been rescued and six bodies recovered, media reported, leaving more than 430 people unaccounted for.
China’s weather bureau said a tornado hit the area where the boat was, rare in a nation where are not common.
Photo: AFP
The People’s Daily, which published a passenger manifest on its microblog, said those on board the Eastern Star ranged in age from three to more than 80.
Tour guide Zhang Hui, 43, told Xinhua the boat sank very fast and he scrambled out a window in torrential rain, clutching a life vest as he could not swim.
“Wave after wave crashed over me; I swallowed a lot of water,” Zhang said, adding that he was unable to flag down passing boats and finally struggled ashore holding onto a branch as dawn broke.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) ordered that no efforts be spared in the rescue and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) went to the scene of the accident in Hubei Province, Xinhua said.
About 60 family members gathered outside a travel agency in Shanghai and demanded information.
“I found out about this only on the television news while I was at work and I came here,” 35-year-old Wang Sheng said, adding that his parents were on board. “I cried all the way here and here I cannot find anyone, the door is locked.”
The ship’s captain and chief engineer, who were among the few to be rescued, were detained by police for questioning, Xinhua said.
According to the Yangtze River Administration of Navigational Affairs, the captain and crew said the ship sank quickly after it was caught in the tornado.
Xinhua said that initial investigations had found the ship was not overloaded and had enough life vests for its passengers. Those rescued were wearing life vests, Xinhua said.
Among those on board were 406 tourists, many elderly, along with 47 crew members and five tour guides, the People’s Daily said.
The Eastern Star, which has the capacity to carry more than 500 people, was heading to Chongqing from Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province. It sank at about 9:28pm in the Jianli section of the Yangtze.
The Eastern Star is owned by Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corp.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
RSS