In a last-ditch effort, rescuers on Wednesday decided to cut open the hull of the capsized cruise ship in China’s Yangtze river as time was running out to save the over 400 people trapped in the vessel in one of the country’s worst shipping tragedies that has claimed 26 lives so far.
Two days after the Eastern Star cruise ship carrying 456 people capsized in Asia’s longest river here in the central Hubei province, the clock was now ticking to find more survivors.
More than 3,000 rescuers and 110 search vessels were deployed in the search, with bad weather continuing to hamper the operations. Helicopters were also dispatched to the scene.
The four-storey cruise ship sank after being caught in a freak tornado in Jianli on Monday night and following massive rescue efforts, 14 survivors had been found with 26 dead bodies pulled out.
As dozens of divers drew blank in their search to find more survivors from the sunken cruise liner, Chinese rescuers began cutting the floating hull of the ship in a last ditch effort to retrieve survivors as well bodies from the overturned vessel.
Closely monitored by Premier li Keqiang at the site, Chinese officials hooked the edges of the ship to high-power cranes from the decks of rescue ships to ensure that it does not sink further before they started cutting open the hull.
Rainstorms batter SW China
Beijing: Torrential downpours swept through southwest China’s Guizhou Province, killing one person and affecting more than 4,10,000 people. A total of 352 houses collapsed and more than 1,500 were damaged in the rainstorms sweeping through the province since Tuesday.