The rescue workers have heard sounds from within the capsized ship and are trying to reach the people they believe are inside the cabin, state media reported Tuesday.
Twelve survivors have been rescued so far -- including the captain and the chief engineer -- and five bodies have been recovered, according to the Hubei Daily, a state-run newspaper.
But there was no word on the fate of the hundreds of other people on the ship.
Images from the scene showed the ship upside down in the river, a section of its hull protruding above the surface of the water.
China's state-run broadcaster CCTV carried video of rescue workers walking on the exposed part of the upturned ship. One of them was lying flat on the hull, tapping against the metal with a small hammer.
Divers who knocked on the ship under the water heard responses from inside, the Chutian Metro Daily, a state-run newspaper, reported. It said welders were trying to cut open the cabin.
The ship, the Eastern Star, went down around 9:30 p.m. Monday during a storm over the section of the river that flows through the central province of Hubei, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing the Yangtze River navigation administration.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other senior officials are on their way to the site of the accident in Hubei's Jianli county to oversee the emergency response, the news agency said.
The rescue efforts were initially complicated by bad weather, according to Xinhua.
The Eastern Star was reported to have been traveling from Nanjing in eastern China to Chongqing, a city more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) inland. Xinhua said that there were 406 passengers, 47 crew members and five travel agency workers on board.
The Yangtze is the third-longest river in the world, stretching 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles) from its source in the mountains of Tibet all the way to the East China Sea.
CNN
2/6/15
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10 rescued after ship carrying 458 sinks in Yangtze River ...
ReplyDeleteTen people have been rescued as of Tuesday morning as rescuers are battling strong winds and downpour to hunt for the others on a passenger ship carrying 458 people that had sank overnight in China's Yangtze River.
The ship, which departed from the eastern Chinese city Nanjing and is bound for Chongqing Municipality in southwest China, sank "within one or two minutes" after being caught in a cyclone, according to the ship's captain and chief engineer.
The incident occurred at around 9:28 pm Monday in the Jianli (Hubei Province) section of the Yangtze, China's longest river, according to the Yangtze River navigation administration.
Authorities have located the site where the ship sank. Part of the ship, which turned upside down, has emerged. More than 30 boats have been dispatched for the rescue...............http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/924858.shtml
Survivors rescued after yells from capsized Chinese ship, hundreds still missing...
ReplyDeleteRescuers pulled six survivors to safety after hearing cries for help Tuesday from inside a capsized cruise ship that went down overnight in a storm on China's Yangtze River with 458 people aboard, most of them elderly, state broadcaster CCTV said.
At least other 12 people are known to have survived, including the captain and chief engineer, and five people were confirmed dead in the accident late Monday during a cruise from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing, the broadcaster said.
Search teams heard people calling out from within the partially submerged ship when they climbed aboard the upside-down hull, CCTV reported more than 12 hours after the ship went down in Hubei Province about 9:38 p.m. Footage from the broadcaster showed rescuers in orange life vests climbing on the upside-down hull, with one of them lying down tapping a hammer and listening for a response, then gesturing downward....AP.......ctvnews.ca