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Nectar Gan

Andrea Chen

Rescue workers have retrieved dozens of bodies from the capsized Eastern Star cruise ship as any hope of finding more survivors fades.
Fourteen people are known to have survived the sinking of the ship on Monday night during a heavy storm on the Yangtze River.
Sixty-five bodies have been recovered, state media reported on Thursday. More than 370 people are missing. 
Rescuers began cutting their way into the capsized Eastern Star cruise ship last night, but the work was suspended on Thursday due to persistent bad weather that has hampered the rescue effort from the start.
The passenger ship was carrying 456 people when it capsized on the Jianli section of the river in Hubei province.
Watch: Survivors from China's Yangtze river boat disaster are treated in hospital

The upturned ship had been surrounded by three large salvage vessels and two more were on their way, state media reported yesterday.
Professor You Qinghua, from Shanghai Maritime University, said  there was only a "slim" chance that any of the missing could have survived.
"The survivors rescued from the ship [on Tuesday] already said they felt breathless," he said. "People can survive after being trapped in debris for 72 hours following an earthquake. But there is no way people could hang in there in a capsized ship for that long."
READ MORE: Close calls with tragedy on the Yangtze River
About 80 family members, frustrated by the paucity of information coming from authorities, hired a bus to make the eight-hour journey from Nanjing to Jianli county in Hubei, where the ship sank.
The protesters later broke through a cordon of 20-25 paramilitary police who had tried to stop them at a roadblock.
Early on Thursday, the deputy police chief of Jiangsu province, of which Nanjing is the capital, told the relatives they could go to the disaster site only in the daytime.
He promised to arrange buses for them to view the boat in the morning, but said journalists were barred from the trip.
The search-and-rescue mission would continue and another 180 divers had been sent to join the 183 already on site, a transport ministry spokesman said yesterday.

Chen Xiang was among the first batch of divers. The diver from the PLA Navy's South Sea Fleet said  low visibility underwater hindered the search.
"I could not see anything and could rely only on touch," Chen said. "The water was muddy, and the current was strong. It was dark and cold."
Chen said it took him 15 minutes before he could reach the second deck of the ship. Something heavy and sharp hit him on the shoulder as he tried to enter a room, forcing him to give up his search.

Staff at a Jianli funeral parlour had prepared "a large number" of coffins, local official newspaper Changjiang Daily reported.
Premier Li Keqiang bowed in silent tribute to the dead as he arrived at the scene of the rescue yesterday morning.
Questions remain over why the ship made a sudden turn 10 minutes before capsizing and whether a tornado recorded in the area at the time of the accident had directly hit the ship.
The ship's captain and chief engineer, who both survived, are in police custody.
"If the voyage data recorder [the black box of the ship] shows the captain made the turn in the stormy weather instead of losing control [after the ship was hit by strong winds and tides], it would be fair to say he bears responsibility for the tragedy," You said.
Chen Yuanjian, a director of the ship's operator, a Chongqing company called Dongfang, admitted the ship's structure had been modified.
He said this was done only to meet updated standards from the shipping authorities, news website The Paper reported.
Chen Yiylong, a captain from the company, said he did not believe the captain of the Eastern Star would have abandoned his passengers to escape.
The owner of the ship that capsized has been ordered to suspend operations of a second boat and carry out safety probes on its entire fleet.
An official at the Changjiang River Administration of Navigational Affairs said the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corporation would need to halt operations of its Eastern Pearl ship, which was built to the same design as the Eastern Star.
"We’ve already ordered the Oriental Pearl to come to dock and instructed the crew and passengers to leave the boat," the official, who was part of the emergency response unit, said.
Other boats in the fleet could still operate, but the company would have to send teams of experts aboard to carry out checks.
A senior manager at Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corporation declined to comment.
The Eastern Star had passed inspections by the authorities in Chongqing last month, the People’s Daily said.
But according to documents from a local maritime watchdog, it was held by authorities due to defects in 2013.
The Nanjing Maritime Safety Administration had investigated the Eastern Star as part of a safety campaign into passenger ferries and tour boats and held the ship along with five other vessels, according to three documents on the bureau’s website.
The documents gave no details of the defects, but said the issues were reported to the Chongqing maritime safety bureau.
Xinhua reported that all boat operators on the Yangtze river should prepare for the impending flood season, pay close attention to the weather and improve their emergency response measures.
Additional reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse
 


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Team of experts to investigate Yangtze cruise ship disaster

Last memories from the Eastern Star

Survivor expresses grief at loss of travel companion in China's Yangtze river cruise ship disaster

Yangtze cruise ship sinking

Hopes fade for the missing on sunken Chinese cruise ship as dozens of bodies are recovered

Local Jianli residents and relatives of the victims on the Dongfangzhixing hold a candle light vigil for the missing passengers on June 4 night in Jianli, Hubei. Photo: Simon Song


A rescue team work on the hull of the sunken ship. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Students in Zhuji, Zhejiang province, pray for the passengers of the Eastern Star at a candlelight vigil yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Premier Li Keqiang pays his respects to the dead after arriving at the scene of the rescue efforts yesterday morning. Photo: Reuters

Relatives of missing passengers pushed through a police cordon near the scene of the disaster demanding news about their loved ones. Photo: Reuters

The sunken cruise ship Eastern Star is seen on the Yangtze River in this undated picture before it capsized in Jianli, Hubei. Photo: Reuters

Rescuers paying a silent tribute to recovered victims of the capsized Chinese cruise ship in Jianli, Hubei. Photo: AFP

A woman, whose husband is on the Dongfsngzhixing,  shouts at a Nanjing Bureau official before a meeting between relatives and Nanjing local government official on June 4. Photo: Simon Song

Nanjin deputy mayor Hu Wanjin (right) speaks with relatives of the victims on the Dongfangzhixing. Photo: Simon Song

Yangtze cruise ship sinking ‘worst maritime disaster in China’s modern history’ with more than 400 still missing

Rescuers stand in the bottom of the sunk ship. Photo: Simon Song

A survivor is helped from the overturned passenger ship in the Jianli section of the Yangtze River yesterday. The ship capsized after it was caught in a storm. Photo: Xinhua

Rescuers save a survivor from the overturned passenger ship in the Jianli section of the Yangtze River. Photo: Xinhua

A family member of passengers cries outside the closed office of Xiehe Travel in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

A rescue vessel alongside the capsized passenger ship. Photo: EPA

A rescue vessel alongside the capsized passenger ship. Photo: AFP

The ship was reported to be carrying 406 passengers, five travel agency workers and 47 crew members. Photo: Xinhua

Search and rescue efforts after the ship sank at the Jianli section of Yangtze Rive. Photo: Reuters

The vessel, which measures 76.5 metres in length, is capable of carrying up to 534 people.  

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (left) chairs a meeting to direct search and rescue work as he takes a plane to the site. Photo: Xinhua

A Chinese rescue team head out to search for survivors of a passenger ship. Photo: AFP

Rescuers work near the ship sinking site. Photo: Xinhua

Search and rescue efforts after the ship sank at the Jianli section of Yangtze River. Photo: EPA

A 65-year-old woman was pulled alive from the wreck, although state media had earlier given her age as 85. Photo: Reuters

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (front) gives instructions on search and rescue work on a ship. Photo: Xinhua

Rescuers carry a body recovered from the capsized ship. Photo: Xinhua

A surveillance camera on another ship on the Yangtze captures footage of the ill-fated Eastern Star (top left corner), less than 40 minutes before it capsized. Photo: Xinhua

Premier Li Keqiang at the scene of the disaster. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Premier Li Keqiang views bodies brought to rescue barge. Photo: Chinese Government's Weibo

Parents wait to see their parents in ICU. Photo: chinanews.com

Relatives of some of the missing wait anxiously for news. Photo: Chinanews.com

Relatives of missing passengers from Fujian province arrive in Wuhan as they travel to the scene of the disaster. Photo: Chinanews.com

Staff in Jianli funeral parlor prepare ice coffins for victims who were travelling on the Eastern Star. Photo: AFP

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang calls upon Zhu Hongmei, a 65-year-old survivor of the overturned ship, at a hospital in Jianli, Hubei. Photo: Xinhua

Two women hug each other in a hotel for the relatives of the passengers on a capsized tourist ship, in Nanjing, Jiangsu. Photo: EPA

Hopes fade for the missing on sunken Chinese cruise ship as dozens of bodies are recovered

More than 370 still unaccounted for as bad weather hampers the rescue mission