More than 400 people are missing after a Chinese passenger boat sank on the Yangtze river after being hit by what the captain described as a cyclone.
Five bodies have so far been recovered from the the Dongfangzhixing, or Eastern Star, vessel, which was carrying 458 people when it went down at around 9.30pm on Monday night not far from the city of Jingzhou in Hubei province.
Although local reports were conflicting, it appeared that only around 10 to 12 people had been rescued, with heavy rain and strong winds hindering the work of emergency teams.
Xinhua, China’s official news agency, said the ship’s captain and chief engineer were among the survivors, and both were detained by police. Seven survivors were said to have swum to shore to alert the authorities to the sinking.
No distress call was sent by the ferry, which is said to have sunk within two minutes.
China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang, headed to the scene of the disaster to lead the rescue effort.
Source: TheGuardian
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