China ferry disaster: Rescuers still searching for survivors of worst maritime disaster in decades

The death toll from a Chinese cruise ship which capsized during a storm in the Yangtze River has risen to 396, making it China’s deadliest boat disaster since 1948.

Rescuers were still searching the cabins of the four-level Eastern Star looking for more bodies, with hundreds discovered since 6 June, when it was righted.

Only 14 survivors, one of them the captain, have been found since the ship carrying 456 people overturned in a storm on 1 June, according to officials.

State television showed pictures of workers in protective gear and masks prising open doors with crowbars and using axes to clear debris from the ship, which is being held up by cranes and wires attached to barges. While most of the passengers were elderly, the body of a three-year-old girl was found in the top deck, officials said.

Jiang Zhao, general manager of the company which operated the Eastern Star, bowed in apology during an interview with state media, saying they would “fully” co-operate with the investigation. “From the moment this happened I have been immersed in sorrow,” Mr Jiang said. Beijing has pledged there will be “no cover-up”. Police have detained the captain and chief engineer for questioning.

The disaster has killed more people than the sinking of a ferry in South Korea in April 2014 in which around 300 died, most of them teenagers on a school trip. It is the worst boat disaster in China since the sinking of the SS Kiangya off Shanghai in 1948, in which thousands are believed to have died.

More than 1,400 family members have come to Jianli in the central province of Hubei, where the ship went down, of whom many express frustration at the lack of information from the government. The government says that it is doing everything possible to help the relatives.

Some relatives have expressed concern about security apparently being aimed at them, including the number of police cars parked outside hotels where they are staying.

On the morning of 6 June, a daily government briefing for family members was cut short after an argument broke out with a representative of the local government. One woman was carried out after she fainted.

“There is no information. Every day we’re here procrastinating, wasting time. There’s no clear-cut answers, there’s no progress to inform us of,” said Wang Shuang, 24, whose mother and uncle were on the boat.

The government is bringing in equipment to store the bodies, many of which are in an advanced state of decomposition. DNA experts are also helping with identification.

Relatives were taken by bus to an area just upriver of the ship, where they burned incense and tossed flowers into the Yangtze in memory of the dead. In a sign of respect for the victims, state television will suspend certain programmes and advertisements that “highlight celebrations” for three days, Xinhua news agency said.

(Reuters)