China ship disaster: No more survivors

05 มิถุนายน 2558

China's worst ship disaster in 70 years with only 14 of 456 rescued. Family members closely monitored by police as they gather with candles & flowers to pray. Ship cited for safety problems 2 years ago, but Chinese govt tightly controlling media & information.

China's worst ship disaster in 70 years with only 14 of 456 rescued. Family members closely monitored by police as they gather with candles & flowers to pray. Ship cited for safety problems 2 years ago, but Chinese govt tightly controlling media & information.

Cranes raise the sunken vessel Eastern Star in the Yangtze River in Jianli, central China's Hubei province. Authorities admit there is no hope for more survivors from a capsized Chinese cruise ship, as cranes on June 5 slowly raised the sunken vessel with exhausted relatives preparing themselves for further agony. (AFP photo)

Rescuers pull the body of a victim from a capsized cruise ship out of water in Jianli, central China's Hubei province, on June 4, 2015

WATER TRANSPORT

'No possibility' of survivors in capsized China ship

5/06/2015
AFP News agency

JIANLI (CHINA) - Authorities admit there is no hope for more survivors from a capsized Chinese cruise ship, as cranes on Friday slowly raised the sunken vessel with exhausted relatives preparing themselves for further agony.

Just 14 of the 456 people on board the Eastern Star were rescued after it sank on the Yangtze River late Monday, and "comprehensive research and analysis of the facts" showed the chances of finding anyone still alive were "increasingly slim", a transport ministry spokesman said.

Just 14 of the 456 people on board the Eastern Star were rescued after it sank on the Yangtze River late Monday (Source: AFP)

"Based on the general judgement that there is no possibility of survival" authorities decided to right the ship, Xu Chengguang told a press conference late Thursday.

State media said a total of 82 people have already been confirmed dead since the cruise liner sank in Hubei province's Jianli county, but hundreds were still missing, many believed trapped in the ship's hull.

Once the final toll is confirmed, the tragedy is set to become China's worst ship disaster in nearly 70 years, state media have reported.

Access to the disaster site has been strictly controlled by the Chinese government. (Source: AFP)

RESCUE OPERATIONS

Rescuers operating massive cranes battled from Thursday night to right the Eastern Star, and daybreak demonstrated some success, with state media images showing the ship upright but with much of it still below water...

...Workers on Thursday welded giant hooks onto the hull... as they prepared to lift the 76.5 metre long vessel in a delicate and risky operation that could have destabilised the wreck and sent it further down the river.

Relatives of those on board gathered Thursday night in a public square in Jianli, clutching candles and flowers to pray for those lost in the disaster...

Relatives of the dead holding candles near the site of the disaster (Source: AFP)

ANGER OF RELATIVES

Most of the passengers were aged over 60 and on a tourist trip when the ship sank, reportedly in less than a minute.

Weather officials said a small but fast-moving tornado hit the area at the time, but few other details have been released...

Information about the sinking and media access to the site have been tightly controlled and any public criticism of the search operation quickly doused.

(For more read Propaganda machine in overdrive for China shipwreck here)

The vessel was cited for safety infractions two years ago... but no further details have been given about the state of the ship.

Hundreds of relatives, frustrated by the lack of news, have converged on the disaster site in the hope of finding out more about their loved ones where they are being closely monitored by police.

Security officers stand watch outside a funeral parlour near the disaster site (Source: AFP)

More than 1,200 family members have so far arrived in Jianli...

Hotels across the county were reserving rooms while authorities have beefed up security at areas where relatives were expected to congregate, such as the riverbank and the funeral parlour.

Among them was 40-year-old Jiang Sudong, who had travelled from Shanghai to seek news on his older brother Jiang Weiming.

"I am really angry that we are not being allowed to see for ourselves what is happening at the scene of the boat," he said as he waited outside a funeral parlour in Jianli.

Hundreds of relatives, frustrated by the lack of news, have converged on the disaster site in the hope of finding out more about their loved ones where they are being closely monitored by police. (Source: AFP)