Speedboat skipper 'over limit'
By Zha Minjie |
April 9, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE skipper of a speedboat which crashed on Taihu Lake in Jiangsu Province last Wednesday, killing four Shanghai students, had been drinking, police said yesterday.
His blood alcohol level of 0.54mg/ml was over the legal limit of 0.34mg/ml, Jiangsu police said.
A witness had earlier claimed that Feng Ke'er, also the boat's owner, had consumed alcohol before the speedboat crashed into a cable linking two cargo ships, killing the four students and injuring three others.
A maritime official said Feng had chosen "the wrong route across the two ships and miscalculated."
It was also claimed that he had refused pleas for a search by survivors after they had noticed that one of their number was missing. A video clip released by a Jiangsu TV station showed Feng arguing with students.
"My son was such a good student," sobbed the mother of Yang Huizheng, one of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University students who died in the accident.
The students, on a tour with a Shanghai travel agency, were not wearing life jackets.
Maritime officials said that operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol was an offence under maritime traffic regulations. Drunk drivers should shoulder the major or overall responsibility for water traffic accidents, though punishments differed from those for driving a car after drinking.
The skippers of the two cargo ships, who have also been detained, are said to have failed to give clear indications that one was being towed behind the other.
All water tourism programs on the lake, China's fifth-largest and a popular destination in Suzhou, have been suspended. Boat owners said they were concerned that they were unlikely to resume before the May holiday.
His blood alcohol level of 0.54mg/ml was over the legal limit of 0.34mg/ml, Jiangsu police said.
A witness had earlier claimed that Feng Ke'er, also the boat's owner, had consumed alcohol before the speedboat crashed into a cable linking two cargo ships, killing the four students and injuring three others.
A maritime official said Feng had chosen "the wrong route across the two ships and miscalculated."
It was also claimed that he had refused pleas for a search by survivors after they had noticed that one of their number was missing. A video clip released by a Jiangsu TV station showed Feng arguing with students.
"My son was such a good student," sobbed the mother of Yang Huizheng, one of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University students who died in the accident.
The students, on a tour with a Shanghai travel agency, were not wearing life jackets.
Maritime officials said that operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol was an offence under maritime traffic regulations. Drunk drivers should shoulder the major or overall responsibility for water traffic accidents, though punishments differed from those for driving a car after drinking.
The skippers of the two cargo ships, who have also been detained, are said to have failed to give clear indications that one was being towed behind the other.
All water tourism programs on the lake, China's fifth-largest and a popular destination in Suzhou, have been suspended. Boat owners said they were concerned that they were unlikely to resume before the May holiday.
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