Death toll from China ship disaster reaches 396

Teams continue to move the Chinese cruise ship which capsized during a storm killing at least 331 people. Reuters
Teams continue to move the Chinese cruise ship which capsized during a storm killing at least 331 people.
Reuters

Workers continued to move a Chinese cruise ship which capsized during a storm in the Yangtze River on Saturday (June 6) morning as the death toll jumped to 396.

Only 14 survivors, one of them the captain, have been found after the ship carrying 456 passengers and crew, overturned in a freak tornado on Monday (June 1) night.

Rescuers are searching the cabins of the ship, which was righted on Friday, looking for more bodies, the official People’s Daily, wrote on its microblog.

Jiang Zhao, general manager of the company which operated the Eastern Star, bowed in apology for the disaster during an interview with state media late on Friday (June 5), saying they would “fully” cooperate with the investigation.

Beijing has pledged there would be “no cover-up” in the probe.

Police have detained the captain and chief engineer for questioning. An initial investigation found the ship was not overloaded and had enough life vests on board.

More than 1,000 family members have come to Jianli in the central province of Hubei where the ship went down, many of them expressing frustration at a lack of information from the government.

Reuters