Relatives of Shanghai passengers travel to Hubei
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The Eastern Star emerged from the gray waters of the Yangtze River yesterday as workers raised the capsized ship using cranes to better search for nearly 340 people still missing. So far, 103 bodies have been found.
The focus has shifted from finding survivors to retrieving bodies trapped since the river cruise ship capsized during a storm on Monday night on a trip from Nanjing to Chongqing.
Cranes righted the boat yesterday morning after divers attached chains to it overnight, transport ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang said, adding that disaster teams would now focus on finding and identifying bodies.
The decision to right the upturned ship and hoist it above water was made after divers’ efforts over the past three days to comb through the ship for survivors had proved to be in vain.
Detection equipment used in recent searches also failed to detect any signs of life during the 72 hours after the ship sank, a period widely believed to be crucial in finding survivors.
“There is a slim chance that we will find more survivors inside the hull. We have made the judgment that there is no possibility of survival,” Xu said.
Xu said that the decision would help find the missing “in the shortest possible time” and also “protect the dignity of the deceased.”
One side of the cruise ship was rolled above water at 7:30am after rescuers worked overnight to right the 2,200-ton ship.
Lifting operations began at about 4pm and finished at 6:50pm with the entire hull then above water, Xinhua news agency reported.
Water drained from its cabins as the boat was gradually lifted out of the river.
Xu said oil had leaked from the ship into the river and absorbent blankets had been placed in the water to help contain it.
Rescuers are now searching the hull while others continued to comb through an extended area in the Yangtze River for potential survivors.
Many relatives of those who have been found dead or remain missing were escorted to the shore to watch the ship being lifted from the water.
Many of them appeared to be in their 30s and 40s and some broke down in tears when they saw the ship. Others looked calmer but exhausted after anxiously waiting for the news of their loved ones for days.
Authorities have attributed the accident to the weather, but have also placed the surviving captain and first engineer in police custody. Relatives have raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its cruise after the storm began and despite a weather warning.
Many of the more than 450 people on board were said to be retirees taking in the Yangtze’s scenic vistas.
With 103 confirmed dead and 339 missing, the incident is likely to become the country’s deadliest boat disaster in seven decades.
The 14 survivors include three who found air pockets in the overturned boat and were pulled out by divers on Tuesday after rescuers had been tapping the hull and heard yelling in response.
Records show the capsized ship was cited for safety violations during an inspection in 2013, according to a Nanjing maritime safety report. It didn’t specify the nature of the violations.
The shallow-draft boat was not designed to withstand winds as heavy as an ocean-going vessel can.
Weather authorities have said the storm the boat encountered had winds up to 130 kilometers per hour.
The cruise ship was on a 11-day trip on the Yangtze River when it was quickly overturned by what the captain described as a freak tornado on the Jianli section of the Yangtze in central China’s Hubei Province.
Meanwhile, 94 relatives of 39 passengers from Shanghai have arrived in Hubei, the city government said. A total of 107 passengers had booked places on the cruise with the Shanghai-based Xiehe Travel Agency.
Authorities in Jianli have asked relatives to provide blood samples and collected information to match their DNA with that of the victims.
Bodies retrieved from the ship have been placed at local funeral parlors.
Chongqing Dongfang Shipping Company, which operates the Eastern Star and four other cruise ships on the Yangtze River, has been ordered to conduct a self-examination of its shipping business in the wake of the tragedy.
Tan Yuping, head of the company’s technological department, said the Eastern Star was launched in 1994 as a vessel for passenger transport. It was transformed into a cruise ship in 1997 and put into service after passing tilting and stability tests.
Tan said that prior to the tragedy the ship had a sound safety operation record.
Eastern Star’s latest annual safety inspection on April 16 had shown that the placement of survival equipment on the vessel met requirements.
China’s deadliest maritime disaster in recent times was the Dashun ferry incident. It caught fire and capsized off east China’s Shandong Province in November 1999, killing about 280 people.
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