Hundreds feared dead in China ferry mishap

Hundreds were feared dead on Tuesday after a cruise ship capsized in Asia’s longest river Yangtze in central China as rescuers braved strong winds and downpour to scan its hull for survivors among the 458 on board, mostly elderly, in one of the country’s worst shipping tragedies. Twenty-four hours after the ill-fated Eastern Star overturned due to a freak cyclone, merely five bodies have been retrieved while 15 people were rescued.

The four-storey ship - bound for Chongqing Municipality, southwest China, from the eastern Chinese city Nanjing - sank after being caught in a cyclone at around 9:28 pm yesterday on the Jianli section of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province. The vessel sank “within one or two minutes” of being caught in bad weather in Jianli, according to the ship’s captain and chief engineer who survived the incident last night. Both have been arrested for questioning.

Hopes were rekindled when over 140 divers scoured through the murky waters of the 6,300 km-long Yangtze River.