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Lawrence  Chung

The structural soundness of the Eastern Star cruise ship that capsized in the Yangtze River last week has come under renewed scrutiny after local media detailed several changes that had been made to the vessel.
A number of modifications were made to the ship in 1997, which could have affected its stability and increased its risk of capsizing, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
The death toll in the June 1 tragedy - China's worst modern shipping disaster - stood at 434 after a thorough search of the vessel in Jianli county, Hubei province, over the weekend.
Eight people remain missing. Authorities said they would search downstream as far as Shanghai.
At least two of the 14 survivors, including Anhui tour guide Jiang Geng and sailor Chen Shuhan, were discharged from hospital yesterday, Xinhua reported.
According to The Beijing News, changes to the ship included having the guest cabins enlarged by enclosing the exterior decks along the length of the vessel with walls and windows.
Exits to the decks were removed, and the cabins led out only to an enclosed corridor after the modification.

The report cited sources from Dongfang Shipping, which owns the Eastern Star, and a former security guard on the vessel.
Internal metal bulkheads were replaced with wooden ones, and fixed metal double-deck beds were replaced with non-fixed wooden ones, it said.
Xinhua earlier reported a survivor's account that his bed started to slide and blocked the room door when the ship tilted. The Beijing News report said sliding furniture made the ship more vulnerable to capsizing.
The revamp also made the originally flat bow pointed, which a source said was to lower the ship's air resistance to save fuel. The vessel's length increased from 66 metres to 76.5 metres.
The report said the shipbuilder, a Dongfang subsidiary that used to build cargo ships, bought the hull from a qualified builder and installed the superstructure in the early 1990s. The shipyard that undertook the modifications went out of business in 2005.
Meanwhile, survivor Yu Zhengwei, who worked at the Eastern Star's snack shop and was washed 20km downstream, told the Information Times that he and his wife, who was on board as well, had also survived the 2008 Sichuan earthquake that killed 88,000 people.
At a morgue in Jianli yesterday, family members wept openly as they arrived to send off their loved ones for the last time.
Authorities identified victims from relatives' DNA samples.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


Refit of ill-fated Chinese Yangtze River cruiser Eastern Star may have heightened risk of capsizing

Officers and soldiers stand in silent tribute to those who died aboard the Eastern Star. Photo: Xinhua

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