Hundreds feared dead as ship sinks in Yangtze River
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Source: NYTimes
BEIJING — Most of the 458 passengers aboard a chartered cruise ship were still missing on Tuesday morning more than 12 hours after it sank during a storm along the central Yangtze River, according to a report by Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency.
Fewer than a dozen people had been rescued, local news media reported, indicating that this could be the worst such disaster in East Asia since the sinking of the South Korean ferry Sewol last year.
The ship, whose name translates to Oriental Star, was crossing Hubei Province in the middle of the country when it sank at 9:28 p.m., the report said, citing the Yangtze River Navigation Administration. Rescue work was hampered by strong winds and heavy rain.
The water where the boat sank is about 50 feet deep. Rescuers could hear the sounds of people trapped inside, according to a Twitter post by China Central Television, the main state network.
Most of the passengers were between 50 and 80 years old and had been traveling on a group tour, according to Hubei Daily. The newspaper reported that one body, which appeared to be that of a tour guide, had been discovered. Hundreds of soldiers, police and paramilitary officers were on the scene. More than 100 boats and divers were on the scene, the newspaper reported.
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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/world/asia/ship-reported-sunk-in-chinas-yangtze.html?emc=edit_na_20150601&nlid=28208667&_r=0
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