China Yangtze River cruise ship death toll rises to almost 400

Chicago Tribune ^ | 06/06/2015

[SeekAndFind]

Disaster teams searched the Yangtze River on Saturday for dozens of missing bodies from the Eastern Star as the death toll in the cruiser's capsizing rose to nearly 400, making it China's deadliest boat disaster in nearly seven decades.

Authorities have attributed the overturning of the ship late Monday to sudden, severe winds, but also have placed the captain and his first engineer in police custody.

Passengers' relatives have raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its cruise after the storm started in a section of Hubei province and despite a weather warning earlier in the evening.

The death toll rose to 396 after hundreds of more bodies from the Eastern Star were found Friday night and Saturday, including that of a 3-year-old girl in the top deck, officials said.

Hu Kaihong, the vice director-general of the press bureau of the State Council Information Office, told a news conference that 46 people were still missing, and that authorities had requested that river traffic and others along the river alert them if they noticed any floating bodies.

Hu said authorities were increasing their efforts to search for the missing and had expanded the target area from the middle reaches of the Yangtze more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) downstream to Shanghai.

The boat had more than 450 people aboard, many of them elderly tourists, for a cruise from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing.

[alloysteel]

Sabotage? Or just bad judgment on the part of the pilot?

[fatnotlazy]

Allegedly high winds, although the authorities have the pilot and co-pilot in custody. In many parts of the world, one is guilty until proven innocent.

[alloysteel]

“In many parts of the world, one is guilty until proven innocent.”

In very recent years, this has come to include the territory once known as “the United States of America”. And the charges can be brought on hearsay alone, no further evidence needed. Any required “Facts” or “Evidence” may be manufactured at a later date.

[fatnotlazy]

In this country, we try cases in the media, not in the courts.

[BBell]

Unfortunately you are right.

[COBOL2Java]

A relative of passengers on board the Eastern Star cruise ship is comforted by a man along the Yangtze River's banks in Jianli, China.

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A relative of a passenger aboard the capsized ship Eastern Star cries during a daily briefing by the government for family members on June 6.