The Latest on China Boat Sinking: Rescuers hear survivors
Jun 1, 2015, 9:48 PM
BEIJING (AP) — 12:45 p.m. (0445 GMT)
State broadcaster CCTV says rescuers heard survivors yelling for help from inside a capsized cruise ship on China’s Yangtze River after it went down overnight in a storm with 458 people aboard, most of them elderly.
The broadcaster says 12 people survived, and at least five people are confirmed dead.
CCTV says search teams heard people calling out from within the partially submerged ship about 12 hours after it went down late Monday during a windy storm in Hubei Province. Stormy weather is hindering the rescue.
The broadcaster showed rescuers in orange life vests on the upside-down hull, with one of them lying down tapping a hammer and listening for a response.
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10:30 a.m. (0230 GMT)
State broadcaster CCTV said search teams heard sounds coming from within the capsized cruise ship more than 12 hours after it flipped over in the Yangtze River on Monday night, and were trying to confirm whether they were from survivors trapped inside.
Footage from the broadcaster showed rescuers in orange life vests standing on top of the upside-down hull, with one of them lying down tapping a hammer and listening for a response, then pointing downward.
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10:15 a.m. (0215 GMT)
Chinese state media say that at least one person is dead and nearly 450 are missing after the ship sank. Ten people have been rescued, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which said the four-level ship was carrying 406 Chinese passengers, five travel agency employees and 47 crew members. Most of the passengers were 50 to 80 years of age.
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8:40 a.m. (0040 GMT)
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is on his way to the accident site where a passenger ship carrying more than 450 sank on the Yangtze River. Only a small number of survivors have been found so far, including the captain and chief engineer, who said the ship sank quickly after being caught in a cyclone. The Communist Party-run People’s Daily said the ship sank within two minutes.
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8 a.m. (0000 GMT)
The state-run Xinhua News Agency says that rescuers are battling winds and rain in the search for missing from a small cruise ship that sank late Monday on China’s Yangtze River. Footage from state broadcaster CCTV calm waters Tuesday morning, with dozens of rescue personnel in bright orange vests gathered on the shore. Several rescue ships were searching the waters, and submersible craft had been deployed.
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7:30 a.m. (2330 GMT)
Chinese President Xi Jinping orders all our rescue effort after the passenger ship carrying 458 passengers and crew sank late Monday night in the Hubei section of China’s Yangtze River. He has ordered a work team from the State Council, the country’s Cabinet, to rush to the site to guide the rescue work. The ship, the Eastern Star, sank after being caught in a cyclone while steaming upriver in a section of the river in Hubei province, according to the Yangtze River navigation administration.
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