Chinese cruise ship capsizes in Yangtze River with 458 aboard
Hundreds missing, 5 people confirmed dead, 15 brought to safety
Hopes dimmed Wednesday for rescuing more than 400 people still trapped aboard a capsized river cruise ship that overturned in stormy weather about 36 hours earlier, as hundreds of rescuers searched the Yangtze River site in what could become the deadliest Chinese maritime accident in decades.
Chinese state media reported that seven bodies had been pulled from the ship, which was floating with a sliver of its hull jutting from the grey river water. A total of 14 people have been rescued, but the vast majority of the 458 people on board, many of them elderly tourists, remain unaccounted for.
Amid continuing uncertainty about their fate, state broadcaster CCTV announced Wednesday morning that it was suspending live broadcasts from the disaster site for technical reasons
The Eastern Star was travelling upstream Monday night from the eastern city of Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing when it overturned in China's Hubei Province in what state media reported as a cyclone with winds of up to 130 km/h.
State media reported that rescuers heard people yelling for help within the overturned hull, and divers rescued a 65-year-old woman and, later, two men who had been trapped. CCTV said more people had been found and were being rescued, but did not say whether they were still inside the overturned hull.
The yelling was heard Tuesday, and it is not known if any sounds were heard Wednesday.
Huang Delong, a deck hand on a car ferry crossing the Yangtze several kilometers upstream of the site, said he was working Monday evening when the weather turned nasty.
"From about 9 p.m. it began raining extremely hard, then the cyclone hit and the wind was really terrifying," Huang said while crossing the broad river in a steady drizzle Tuesday afternoon.
Huang said he thought it was the worst disaster on that stretch of the river in living memory. The official Xinhua News Agency said the sinking could become the country's worst shipping accident in seven decades.
"We will do everything we can to rescue everyone trapped in there, no matter they're still alive or not, and we will treat them as our own families," Hubei military region commander Chen Shoumin said at a news conference shown live on CCTV.
The survivors included the ship's captain and chief engineer, both of whom were taken into police custody, CCTV said. Relatives who gathered in Shanghai, where many of the tourists started their journey by bus, questioned whether the captain did enough to ensure the passengers' safety and demanded answers from local officials in unruly scenes that drew a heavy police response.
Xinhua quoted the captain and the chief engineer as saying the four-level Eastern Star sank quickly. The Communist Party-run People's Daily said the ship sank within two minutes.
Tour guide Zhang Hui said in an interview with the state-run Xinhua News Agency from his hospital bed that he grabbed a life jacket with seconds to spare as the ship listed in the storm, sending bottles rolling off tables and suddenly turned all the way over.
Zhang, 43, said he drifted in the Yangtze all night despite not being able to swim, reaching shore as dawn approached.
"The raindrops hitting my face felt like hailstones," he said. "`Just hang in there a little longer,' I told myself."
Some survivors swam ashore, but others were rescued after search teams climbed on the upside-down hull.
Thirteen navy divers were on the scene and 170 more were joining them, Chen said.
The 65-year-old woman was rescued by divers who took an extra breathing apparatus up into the bowels of the ship and spent about five minutes teaching her how to use it before bringing her out to safety, Chen said.
"That old woman had a very strong will and learned very fast, and after 20 minutes she surfaced to the water and was rescued," he said.The survivors included the ship's captain and chief engineer, both of whom were taken into police custody, state broadcaster CCTV said. Relatives who gathered in Shanghai, where many of the travellers started their journey by bus, questioned whether the captain did enough to ensure the safety of passengers and demanded answers from local officials in unruly scenes that drew a heavy police response.
Some of the other survivors swam ashore, but others were rescued after search teams climbed aboard the upside-down hull and heard people yelling for help from within more than 12 hours after the ship overturned.
Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed rescuers in orange life vests climbing on the upside-down hull, with one of them lying down tapping a hammer and listening for a response, then gesturing downward.
"That old woman had a very strong will and learned very fast, and after 20 minutes she surfaced to the water and was rescued," Chen said.
Thirteen navy divers were on the scene and would be bolstered by 170 more by Wednesday, he said. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang travelled to the accident site to help co-ordinate efforts.
The overturned ship had drifted about three kilometres downstream before coming to rest close to the shore, where fast currents made the rescue difficult. The location is about 180 kilometres west of the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan.
The Eastern Star measured 76.5 metres long and 11 metres wide and was capable of carrying a maximum of 534 people, CCTV reported. It is owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corp., which focuses on tourism routes in the popular Three Gorges river canyon region. The company could not be reached for comment.
CCTV reported on Tuesday that 150 millimetres of rain had fallen in the region over the past 24 hours. Local media reported winds reached 130 km/h during the accident.
Weather reports said the storm system could remain stalled in the area for up to two more days.