Ship capsize: China deploys frogmen, choppers to assist in search operation

The Eastern Star, which left the eastern city of Nanjing on Thursday for Chongqing Municipality on the upper reaches of the river, sank “within one or two minutes” of being caught in freak weather in Jianli, Hubei Province, according to the ship’s captain and chief engineer who survived the tragedy.

Chinese Navy said it has dispatched more than 230 soldiers, led by Donghai Fleet deputy commander Gu <g data-gr-id="31">Xiangbing</g>, to assist the search and rescue mission, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

This includes 140 divers from the navy’s Beihai, Donghai and Nanhai fleets, as well as students from <g data-gr-id="27">Naval</g> University of Engineering.

A People’s Daily report said the divers were equipped with sonar scan devices, underwater screens and cutting machines.

They have already rescued two people, including Chen <g data-gr-id="30">Shuhan</g>, 21, and an elderly woman, from the upturned hull of the four-deck cruise boat, according to the navy’s official social media account on people.com.

Chen is stable while the elderly woman has been hospitalised, it said.

In addition, five helicopters were dispatched from Beijing, and Hubei’s provincial capital of Wuhan today, along with an IL-76 transport plane.

Another three helicopters are waiting for orders to depart from Wuhan. Until now, 14 people have been rescued from the capsized vessel, with five others confirmed dead, according to Yang <g data-gr-id="29">Chuantang</g>, minister of transport.

The incident could be the worst the country has seen in close to seven decades.