Tears as relatives say their final farewells
Print Edition
RELATIVES wept openly as they arrived yesterday at a morgue for a last look at the bodies of their loved ones who were among the more than 430 people who died when the cruise ship Eastern Star overturned on the Yangtze River eight days ago.
One man was carrying a framed picture of a relative as smoke rose from the nearby crematorium in Jianli, a riverside county in central China’s Hubei Province.
Authorities have been identifying bodies from DNA samples donated by relatives, who were then given the option of a final look at the bodies before they were cremated.
Under Chinese tradition, the deceased are cremated at a local morgue and relatives then take the ashes home for burial.
The identities of 17 people from Shanghai who died in the disaster had been confirmed by DNA tests and their personal effects returned to relatives, the city government said yesterday.
A team of experts from the city is providing counseling for the relatives of all 96 victims from Shanghai.
The death toll in the disaster stood at 434 yesterday following a thorough search of the now-upright ship over the weekend.
The bodies of two more victims were recovered yesterday morning but eight people are still missing, according to the rescue headquarters in Jianli, Xinhua news agency reported.
Authorities said that they were now searching more than 1,000 kilometers of the Yangtze downstream as far as Shanghai.
Fourteen people survived the disaster, which happened during a severe storm, with most of them managing to swim or eventually drift to shore.
Three were pulled from the overturned hull by divers the day after the disaster, when rescuers heard cries from inside.
Two men were discharged from the county hospital in Jianli yesterday while another survivor, 65-year-old Zhu Hongmei, is expected to be discharged soon, Xinhua said.
Authorities have attributed the accident to sudden, turbulent winds. They also have placed the surviving captain and chief engineer in police custody, though they have released no details of any pending investigation into their conduct.
The Eastern Star, with 456 people on board, was on an 11-day trip along the Yangtze River when it capsized.
- 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.
