Crews seek survivors in China
Vessel capsized quickly during tornado; hundreds feared dead on Yangtze
BEIJING — Divers and other rescue workers battled into the night Tuesday to reach survivors from a tourist-filled cruise ship that capsized with 456 people onboard during a freak tornado on China’s Yangtze River.
After what could become the worst ferry disaster in China in nearly 70 years, more than 110 rescue boats and six helicopters battled wind, rain and darkness as they scoured the river for survivors. They were joined by more than 180 navy divers, who rushed to the scene in central Hubei province.
More than 24 hours after the Eastern Star overturned, just 15 people were known to have survived, while 18 bodies were recovered from the scene. But more than 420 people remained unaccounted for, authorities said.
The captain of the vessel and the chief engineer were among the first to be rescued and were detained by police for questioning.
Officials initially put the number of people onboard the boat at 458, but they later revised it to 456. One crew member had left the ship a week ago to visit his father in a hospital, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported, a decision that probably saved his life.
A handful of people swam to safety or were picked up in the river, while others were brought out on Tuesday after somehow surviving in air pockets inside the overturned vessel.
State television showed footage of a rescue worker in an orange life jacket hammering on the hull of the ship. He then pressed his ear to the metal to listen for replies.
Another worker used a power tool to cut through the hull in a desperate bid to reach people trapped in an air pocket, who were reported to have been calling for help, according to state media.
Some 18 hours after the ship capsized, navy divers rescued a 65-year-old woman from deep inside its bowels, teaching her how to use breathing equipment before bringing her to the surface, as Premier Li Keqiang looked on.
“Right at that moment, all the cadres on the spot were cheering, and all of them were clapping their hands,” Hubei’s military commander, Chen Shoumin, told a news conference, with obvious enthusiasm himself.
Li was “very, very excited as he witnessed this moment,” Chen said. “He said the military achieved first-class merit. We should thank the military.”
Later, a 21-year-old crew member and another man were also brought out from inside the vessel.
CCTV said rescuers were waiting for a second salvage vessel to arrive and might attempt to turn the stricken vessel overnight.
The death toll seemed likely to surpass the sinking of a ferry in South Korea in April 2014, when 304 people, most of them children, drowned.
It is also likely to go down as the worst ferry disaster in China since the steamship Kiangya blew up on the Huangpu River in southeastern China in 1948, killing more than 1,000 people.
Most passengers were between 50 and 80 years of age, state media reported. They were on an organized 11-day cruise along the Yangtze, Asia’s longest river, and its famous Three Gorges region.
State radio said the four-decked ship overturned in just two minutes in a sudden tornado, without issuing a distress call. The alarm was raised only when a handful of survivors swam ashore.
Xinhua said initial investigations had established that the ship was not overloaded and that it carried enough life jackets. China’s weather bureau said a small but intense tornado, lasting only about 15 or 20 minutes, swept across the river as the boat passed.