JUNE 4 (Reuters) — Rescuers on Thursday (June 4) cut holes into the upturned hull of the Eastern Star which capsized on China’s Yangtze River in an attempt to recover victims still within its bowels, state media showed.
Divers face difficulties such as cabin doors blocked by tables and beds. There is also the fear that rashly cutting holes in the hull could burst air pockets keeping people alive.
The death toll from the accident has risen to 65, state broadcaster CCTV reported, but more than 370 people are still missing.
Another 39 bodies were recovered overnight, CCTV said. Only 14 survivors, including the captain, have been found since the ship carrying 456 people capsized in a freak tornado on Monday night, in what could be China’s worst shipping disaster in almost 70 years.
Two of the 14 survivors, 65 year old Zhu Hongmei and tour guide Jiang Geng, were recovering in a nearby hospital on Thursday.
Zhu was pulled out from the boat after spending around fifteen hours underwater, her doctor Xi Xiuming said.
“Part of the muscle is exhibiting necrosis, at the same time the electrolytes in her blood are also not that good, she has low potassium and so on. These (symptoms) are all directly related to her spending quite a long time in cold water, after a period of treatment we’ve already seen a clear recovery in her electrolytes, the strength in her muscles are also recovering, her body heat was originally 30 degrees, now the temperature has basically recovered to 37 or 38 degrees,” he said.
Jiang, who escaped as the boat sank, was discovered floating downstream by a fisherman. While physically doing well, doctors said they were concerned about his mental state caused by the guilt of leaving so many of his clients behind.
“A lot of his old customers are gone now so he feels really bad, he has a great burden in his heart. So yesterday when we got up to check the room we found he was really depressed and he felt he’s let the old people down,” Xi said.
Rescuers are not giving up their search of the ship despite the fading hopes of relatives.
The search area has been extended up to 220 km (135 miles) downstream, state television said, suggesting that bodies could have been swept far from where the ship foundered.
China’s weather bureau said a freak tornado had buffeted the area the ship was passing through.
State media said it was the worst recorded ship disaster on the Yangtze River. In 1948, the steamship Kiangya blew up on the Huangpu River, killing more than 1,000 people. (HUBEI PROVINCE, CHINA)