Chances of finding survivors fading but search goes on
Print Edition
SEARCH and rescue workers were last night battling to right the cruise ship that capsized on the Yangtze River on Monday night, to quicken the search for more than 360 missing victims. A total of 77 people were confirmed dead.
Steel bars were placed underneath the ship, which was then to be lifted by two 500-ton cranes. A huge net has been placed near the cranes and another one a few meters downstream to catch bodies.
Two smaller cranes are also on site and boats have been stopped from entering the area, said the Ministry of Transport.
Xu Chengguang, a spokesman for the transport ministry, told a news conference that the chance of finding anyone else alive is “very slim.”
It is therefore time to right the ship to speed up recovery efforts, he said.
The operation to right the ship, which had overturned during a freak tornado, began at 8pm and was expected to last at least five hours, the Hubei Daily reported.
It will allow rescuers to “search for the missing persons in the shortest possible time and give maximum protection to the dignity of the deceased,” Xinhua news agency said, citing the transport ministry.
Experts in recovery operations and ship design from across the country are on the spot to provide support for a plan that is in line with international norms, the ministry said.
The plan will facilitate searching through every cabin of the cruise ship to find any survivors as soon as possible.
Earlier, rescuers cut three holes into the overturned hull in unsuccessful attempts to find survivors.
Workers stabilized the ship with cranes and then cut into sections of the hull to check for survivors before welding the sections back to the hull to preserve the ship’s buoyancy and balance, CCTV reported.
Meanwhile, hundreds of relatives gathered in a public square in Jianli clutching candles and flowers.
Several family members knelt in the center of the square, about 90 minutes’ drive from the site of the disaster.
More than 450 people were on board the Eastern Star when it sank after being hit by a tornado in the Jianli section of the river in central China’s Hubei Province.
“We just want an early resolution to this tragedy,” said a sobbing 57-year-old woman surnamed Li who has a relative on the boat. “We feel so devastated.”
The government has pledged there will be “no cover-up” of an investigation, and President Xi Jinping yesterday convened a special meeting of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee to discuss the disaster.
The meeting called on rescuers to “take all possible measures” to save the injured and urged a “serious investigation into the cause of the incident,” Xinhua said.
Authorities are investigating the crew members who were rescued and were “gathering evidence,” spokesman Xu said. “We will never shield mistakes and we’ll absolutely not cover up anything.”
Xu said rescuers were facing challenges posed by poor weather conditions.
“Due to factors including the recent wide-ranging rainfall, it was exceptionally hard for the divers every time they submerged,” he told reporters. “Every dive was a grope in the dark.”
Many of the people on board the multi-decked, 77-meter Eastern Star were retirees taking in the scenic vistas of the Yangtze on a cruise from the eastern Nanjing city to the southwestern city of Chongqing.
Although chances of finding anyone else alive have all but disappeared, officials have not yet declared the search over.
More than 200 divers have been working underwater in three shifts to search the ship’s cabins one by one, CCTV said.
Guan Dong, one of the divers who earlier this week brought two survivors out of water, said the river’s fast currents were daunting.
“When I got close to the door of a compartment, the current speed was so fast that I could not crawl into it,” he said at a press conference.
Authorities have said swift currents are a major hurdle in the rescue efforts and the government has ordered the Three Gorges Dam on the upper stream of the river to more than halve its water flow to aid the rescue work.
Diver Guan also said visibility was a problem.
“I had a diving torch in my hand but I could hardly see my fingers,” he said.
“I could only see them when I put them 20-30 centimeters in front of the lens (of my diving mask),” he added.
“The visibility in the compartment was even worse,” he said, adding the passage was narrow and he kept bumping into the walls on both sides of him.
“Plus there were many things floating in the water such as quilts and washing basins. Too many unpredictable things.”
He found a woman in her 60s in an air pocket.
“She was holding on to a pipe in the compartment with her left hand and using a torch in her right hand,” he said. “She burst into tears immediately when she saw me.”
Guan said the current, which “lashed on the side of the compartment door,” was so strong that they had to ask rescue workers above the water to drag them out.
Rescuers pulled out 51 bodies yesterday. They were taken to Jianli’s Rongcheng Crematorium, in Hubei Province, where relatives had the heartbreaking task of identifying them.
Among the crowd observing developments outside the crematorium was Wang Xun, a local farmer, who noted that many of the boat’s passengers were elderly.
“I can’t imagine how terrifying it must have been for them,” he said. “Old people should be with their families and go peacefully, not like this.”
Only 14 survivors have been found since the ship capsized.
They included the captain and chief engineer who have been detained by police for questioning. The initial investigation has found that the ship was not overloaded and had enough life jackets on board.
Some relatives have questioned whether the captain should have brought the ship ashore at the first signs of a storm, and whether everything possible was done to ensure the safety of the passengers.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
