Police investigate claim driver of death boat had been drinking
By Zha Minjie |
April 7, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE are investigating whether a boat owner had been drinking before he took the controls of a speedboat which was involved in an accident that killed four Shanghai students on Taihu Lake in Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu Province.
A witness claimed that he saw the owner drinking liquor before the incident on Wednesday.
Zhou Baoqing, a maritime official who joined the rescue mission after the accident, said yesterday that authorities were "still waiting for the police investigation report."
Meanwhile, evidence came to light that the owner refused to search for a missing student after the collision.
A video clip released by a Jiangsu TV station yesterday showed the driver refusing students' pleas for a search after they had noticed that one of their fellow students was missing.
"We lost one person," the students could be heard shouting on the video.
"No, no. Definitely no," a man who is standing on the speedboat is heard to respond.
"There's still someone missing! We beg you, drive your boat and search, please."
"No. Absolutely no."
"Just one more time, please."
The man doesn't move.
Two of the victims were initially listed as missing. Their bodies were found the next day.
The boat owner, surnamed Feng, was also the driver. A witness who works at the lake and is acquainted with him said Feng "likes drinking alcohol."
Collided with cable
Feng is said to have bought the boat for about 90,000 yuan (US$14,275) after crashing his old boat with another speedboat in 2010.
On Wednesday, the speedboat, carrying six students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a guide, collided with a cable behind a cargo ship that was being used to tow another vessel. Three students and the guide were killed.
Three injured students were treated in Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital.
One with minor neck injuries was allowed home yesterday. The other two suffered skull fractures but were in stable condition, doctors at the hospital said.
The route chosen by Feng to cross between two ships has been called into question.
Zhou blamed the accident on the driver who "chose the route but miscalculated."
Maritime supervisors, who were supposed to be on duty, were having a meal when the accident happened, according to yesterday's Shanghai Evening Post, quoting a boat owner who declined to be named.
All water tourism programs on the lake, China's fifth-largest and a popular destination in Suzhou, have been suspended indefinitely.
"All we want to know is the truth," said an uncle of Wu Jiayi, the guide who died in the crash, as family members and classmates gathered yesterday to mourn the victims.
Wu would have celebrated her 23rd birthday yesterday.
She was a student at the East China Unversity of Political Science and Law in Shanghai and worked part-time as tourism guide.
Shanghai is conducting checks on small speedboats and tourism ships, of which there are more than 240 in the city, in the wake of the accident.
A witness claimed that he saw the owner drinking liquor before the incident on Wednesday.
Zhou Baoqing, a maritime official who joined the rescue mission after the accident, said yesterday that authorities were "still waiting for the police investigation report."
Meanwhile, evidence came to light that the owner refused to search for a missing student after the collision.
A video clip released by a Jiangsu TV station yesterday showed the driver refusing students' pleas for a search after they had noticed that one of their fellow students was missing.
"We lost one person," the students could be heard shouting on the video.
"No, no. Definitely no," a man who is standing on the speedboat is heard to respond.
"There's still someone missing! We beg you, drive your boat and search, please."
"No. Absolutely no."
"Just one more time, please."
The man doesn't move.
Two of the victims were initially listed as missing. Their bodies were found the next day.
The boat owner, surnamed Feng, was also the driver. A witness who works at the lake and is acquainted with him said Feng "likes drinking alcohol."
Collided with cable
Feng is said to have bought the boat for about 90,000 yuan (US$14,275) after crashing his old boat with another speedboat in 2010.
On Wednesday, the speedboat, carrying six students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a guide, collided with a cable behind a cargo ship that was being used to tow another vessel. Three students and the guide were killed.
Three injured students were treated in Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital.
One with minor neck injuries was allowed home yesterday. The other two suffered skull fractures but were in stable condition, doctors at the hospital said.
The route chosen by Feng to cross between two ships has been called into question.
Zhou blamed the accident on the driver who "chose the route but miscalculated."
Maritime supervisors, who were supposed to be on duty, were having a meal when the accident happened, according to yesterday's Shanghai Evening Post, quoting a boat owner who declined to be named.
All water tourism programs on the lake, China's fifth-largest and a popular destination in Suzhou, have been suspended indefinitely.
"All we want to know is the truth," said an uncle of Wu Jiayi, the guide who died in the crash, as family members and classmates gathered yesterday to mourn the victims.
Wu would have celebrated her 23rd birthday yesterday.
She was a student at the East China Unversity of Political Science and Law in Shanghai and worked part-time as tourism guide.
Shanghai is conducting checks on small speedboats and tourism ships, of which there are more than 240 in the city, in the wake of the accident.
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