Video shows that one side of the capsized Eastern Star was rolled above water Friday morning after crews worked all night to right the vessel.
Only 14 people have been rescued since the ship went down in severe weather late Monday. Well over 300 passengers, many of whom are elderly, remain missing. Many are believed to be trapped in the hull.
Transport Ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang told reporters Friday the ship will now be raised completely to begin the search for bodies.
The death toll is expected to drastically rise, likely making the incident China's deadliest maritime disaster in decades.
Beijing has promised an all-out effort to find survivors, but that has failed to satisfy many relatives of the missing passengers who are not happy with a lack of information from authorities.
Scores of family members broke through a police barricade late Wednesday as they marched toward the accident site, demanding information on missing relatives.
Chinese authorities, who have tightly controlled information on the rescue effort, have promised to allow the relatives to visit the site.
The rescue has been complicated by heavy winds and rain, as well as strong currents that have pushed the capsized, shallow-draft vessel nearly three kilometers downstream from the accident site........http://www.voanews.com/content/china-rights-capsized-ship-death-toll-soars/2808562.html
5/6/15
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Capsized ship raised out of the Yangtze, 103 bodies found so far...
ReplyDeleteThe banged-up, white-and-blue Eastern Star emerged from grey waters of the Yangtze River on Friday as Chinese disaster teams raised the capsized ship with cranes to better search for nearly 340 people still missing. So far, 103 bodies have been found.
The focus shifted from finding survivors to retrieving bodies trapped since the river cruise ship capsized suddenly during a storm Monday night on the trip from Nanjing to Chongqing.
Authorities have attributed the accident to weather, but also have placed the surviving captain and first engineer under police custody. Passengers' relatives have raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its cruise after the storm started and despite a weather warning earlier in the evening....AP.....ctvnews.ca
5/6/15