CHINA-SHIP/NEWSER-UPDATE Yangtze passenger boat death toll rises to 26

Record ID: 150074

  • Title: CHINA-SHIP/NEWSER-UPDATE Yangtze passenger boat death toll rises to 26
  • Date: 3rd June 2015
  • Summary: JIANLI COUNTY, HUBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (JUNE 3, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION SPOKESMAN XU CHENGGUANG SITTING NEXT TO MILITARY OFFICIALS AT NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION SPOKESMAN, XU CHENGGUANG, SAYING: "Until this afternoon, up until 5 p.m., with the sunken vessel there have bee
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2JTFEZBDIX1SFPWHHP7IJ9W28
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: An official from the Chinese ministry of transportation held a news conference in Jianli county on Wednesday (June 3) where he gave the latest death toll from the Yangtze boat tragedy.
    Only 14 people, including the ship's captain, have been found alive since the ship capsized in a freak tornado on Monday night with 456 people on board. Just 26 bodies have been recovered.
    "Until this afternoon, up until 5 p.m., with the sunken vessel there have been no survivors found. In the first day, within the process of search and rescue we found the bodies of 21 victims. Today we have five more than the original number of dead. In total (as of now) we have found the bodies of 26 victims," Transportation Ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang told journalists.
    The search area has been expanded up to 220 km (135 miles) downstream, state television said, suggesting that bodies could have been swept far away from where the ship foundered.
    Some relatives of the missing have questioned why most of the people rescued were crew members, why the boat did not dock, and why the captain and crew members had time to don their life vests but not sound any alarm.
    Others marched in protest on Wednesday to demand news of missing relatives.
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