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On China’s Yangtze River, a Race Against Time to Find Survivors On China’s Yangtze River, a Race Against Time to Find Survivors
(about 3 hours later)
JIANLI, China — Rescue divers from across China converged on a remote stretch of the Yangtze River on Tuesday in a race to save people believed to be trapped inside the hull of a capsized cruise ship that had carried 456 passengers and crew members. JIANLI, China — Zhu Hongmei, 65, had somehow managed to work her way into an air pocket in the capsized cruise ship. She stayed there for 15 or so hours, despite the cold and the currents and the darkness.
As of Tuesday evening, nearly a full day after the four-story ship, the Oriental Star, capsized amid high winds and heavy rain, only 14 people were known to have survived the accident, including a 65-year-old woman, Zhu Hongmei, who was dramatically pulled from an air pocket inside the ship just after midday Tuesday by divers. They briefly instructed her on how to use scuba equipment before guiding her into the muddy water and free of the overturned vessel, according to Chen Shoumin, the commander of the local military district, who spoke at a televised briefing. She kept her head above water. She did not lose consciousness. And on Tuesday, a rescue diver appeared with scuba equipment to guide her, after just five minutes of instruction, through the murky waters and out of the Yangtze River, back into the light.
Late on Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency lowered the number of people onboard to 456 from 458, and said there were 14 survivors, down from an earlier report of 15. The agency did not explain why the numbers had changed. As of late Tuesday, 437 were still missing, according to state news media. The account of that rescue, given during a televised briefing by Chen Shoumin, the commander of the local military district in this remote part of central China, was one of the few moments of triumph after a nautical disaster likely to rate as one of the worst in recent memory.
Five bodies have been recovered, said Xinhua, and many hundreds are probably still inside the vessel. Mr. Chen said that more people might still be alive in the ship and that additional rescuers were on their way to the scene of the accident, in Jianli County in Hubei Province in central China, with plans calling for 183 divers to be there by Wednesday. Beneath a shroud of gray clouds, the air sticky with early summer humidity, divers put on their suits and went one after the other into the waters of the world’s third-longest river, hoping to find at least one of the hundreds of missing passengers, many of them retirees, from the Oriental Star. The ship keeled over Monday night in severe weather that the captain and engineer described to investigators as a tornado, state news media reports said.
Other rescue workers were seen on state television tapping hammers on the hull, then listening for any response that could indicate survivors. Besides Ms. Zhu, two others were pulled from the water on Tuesday, the Chinese state news media reported. One was Chen Shuhan, a 21-year-old crew member.
It appeared that the death toll could exceed that of East Asia’s last major such disaster, the sinking of the South Korean ferry Sewol ln April 2014, in which 304 people were killed, most of them high school students. Many of the passengers who boarded the Oriental Star in Nanjing on Thursday for a trip to last 10 days or more were older people on group tours, although there were also children among the passengers, including a 3-year-old. The diver who found him, Guan Dong, told a television reporter that he searched three times in the 251-foot-long, four-story ship, which had come to rest upside down, before finding the crewman. “Once I dove in, I found him stuck inside,” Mr. Guan said. “It was completely dark, and he was alone.”
In an indication of how seriously the ruling Communist Party regarded the accident, Premier Li Keqiang arrived at the scene on Tuesday, Xinhua reported. Xinhua and other state media outlets showed pictures of him giving instructions to the rescue crews. News organizations reported that Xi Jinping, the country’s president and the party’s leader, had “issued important instructions immediately” to direct rescue operations. As of Tuesday evening, when a heavy rain began to fall, only a handful of people were known to have survived the accident. The official Xinhua News Agency lowered the number of people onboard at the time of the capsizing to 456 from 458, and said there were 14 survivors, down from an earlier report of 15.
“This shows that the party and the government, they genuinely care about the people,” Mr. Chen said. The agency did not explain why the numbers had changed. As of late Tuesday, 437 were still missing.
But some anxious relatives of the passengers disputed that, saying they had been kept in the dark. Five bodies have been recovered, and many hundreds are probably still inside the vessel. Mr. Chen, the military commander, said that more people might still be alive in the ship and that additional rescuers were on their way to the scene, in Jianli County of Hubei Province.
The offices of the Xiehe Tourism Agency in Shanghai, where many of the tourists had booked their trips, were closed on Tuesday with a note taped to the door saying the managers had gone to the site of the accident. Qin Jianli, 48, from the nearby village of Xinzhou, said: “Last night around 9:30, the wind began blowing hard, with lots of lightning. It blew so hard it destroyed some homes in my village.
Grieving family members who had shown up at the office were sent by officials to a local petition bureau and told to wait there. Many of them were angry that the government had not provided them with any information about the accident or a list of possible victims. “The wind swirled in a twisting shape.” .
“They don’t want to tell us anything, and they treat us like we’re going to do something bad,” said a woman with the surname Chen, who said three of her sisters and two brothers-in-law were believed to have been on the Oriental Star with 14 other members of a tour group. “We just want to know where they are. Our family lost five people.” The death toll is likely to exceed that of Asia’s last such disaster of this magnitude, the sinking of the South Korean ferry Sewol in April 2014, in which 304 people died, most of them high school students. Many of the passengers who boarded the Oriental Star in Nanjing last Thursday for a trip to last 10 or more days were older people on group tours, although there were also children among the passengers, including a 3-year-old.
Ms. Chen’s husband, who said his name was Mr. Cai, stepped in, saying: “No one has talked to us; we’ve gotten no update. It’s really disappointing.” Some anxious relatives of the passengers said they had been kept in the dark throughout the ordeal.
The offices of the Xiehe Tourism Agency in Shanghai, where many of the tourists had booked their trips, were closed on Tuesday, with a note taped to the door saying the managers had gone to the site of the accident.
Grieving family members who had shown up at the office were sent by officials to a local petition bureau and told to wait there. Many were angry that the government had not provided them with any information about the accident or a list of possible victims.
“They don’t want to tell us anything, and they treat us like we’re going to do something bad,” said a woman with the surname Chen; she said three of her sisters and two brothers-in-law were believed to have been on the Oriental Star with 14 other members of a tour group. “We just want to know where they are. Our family lost five people.”
When a man who appeared to be a higher-ranking official arrived at the bureau, some relatives shouted at him and followed him, demanding answers. Others jostled with staff members at the bureau after they were told not to talk with the news media.When a man who appeared to be a higher-ranking official arrived at the bureau, some relatives shouted at him and followed him, demanding answers. Others jostled with staff members at the bureau after they were told not to talk with the news media.
The captain of the Oriental Star — identified by Xinhua as Zhang Shunwen — was pulled alive from the river at 11:50 p.m. Monday, more than two hours after the vessel capsized, the official Hubei Daily reported. The captain of the Oriental Star, identified as Zhang Shunwen, was pulled alive from the river at 11:50 p.m. Monday, more than two hours after the vessel capsized, The Hubei Daily reported. He and the chief engineer, who was also rescued, were taken into police custody for questioning.
Images released Tuesday afternoon by the state news media showed boats swarming around the capsized vessel and rescue workers on the keel, which lay above the waterline in muddy water about 50 feet deep, perpendicular to the riverbank. Xinhua reported that rescuers had cut into the ship in an attempt to reach possible survivors. As night fell, the scene was illuminated by powerful lights. Images released Tuesday afternoon by the state news media showed boats clustered around the capsized vessel and rescue workers on the keel. The muddy water was about 50 feet deep. Rescuers had cut into the ship in an attempt to reach possible survivors.
Alan Loynd, a longtime salvage expert based in Hong Kong, said that cutting a hole into the hull would require making sure the ship was in shallow water, to ensure that it did not sink deeper. “The danger, of course, is if she’s floating upside down, you let the air out and she sinks,” he said. “You’d probably want to tow her into the shallows.” In the main Jianli hospital, several police officers blocked journalists on Tuesday evening from going to the rooms in which survivors were resting. One officer said survivors had been brought in with multiple fractures. The hospital will send a psychologist to talk to the survivors, he said. Earlier, Premier Li Keqiang had visited the survivors.
When possible, air is pumped into an overturned vessel from below as the exposed hull is cut open, in an attempt to maintain air pockets in the hull and reduce the risk that the vessel will descend deeper. “One problem with pumping air from underneath is affecting the vessel’s stability — it may roll further,” said Arthur Bowring, the managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association. The central government ordered all Chinese journalists, except for those from Xinhua and China Central Television, to refrain from going to the scene, some reporters said. The government often issues such orders when unexpected and politically delicate news events take place.
In the main Jianli hospital, several police officers blocked journalists on Tuesday evening from going to the rooms in which survivors were resting. One officer said survivors had been brought in with multiple fractures. He added that the hospital would send a psychologist to talk to the survivors. The sinking is the most prominent transportation accident in China since a high-speed train crash near the eastern city of Wenzhou in 2011, in which 40 people died. At the time, ordinary Chinese asked tough questions about which officials should be held responsible.
The central government ordered all Chinese journalists, except for those from Xinhua and China Central Television, to refrain from going to the scene, some Chinese journalists said. The government often issues such orders when unexpected and politically delicate news events take place. Tornadoes are not as common in China as they are in the United States, but the China Meteorological Administration said Tuesday that a tornado had been reported in the area around the time that the ship capsized. Wind speeds reached 12 on the Beaufort Scale, which translates to 74 miles per hour, or hurricane strength, for 15 to 20 minutes, the administration said in an emailed response to questions.
The sinking is the most prominent transportation accident in China since a high-speed train crash near the eastern city of Wenzhou in 2011, in which 40 people died.
The captain and the chief engineer of the Oriental Star, who also survived, were taken into police custody and said during questioning that the ship capsized when it was hit by a tornado, according to reports in the state-run media.
Tornadoes are not as common in China as they are in the United States, but the China Meteorological Administration said Tuesday that a tornado had been reported in the area around the time that the ship capsized. Wind speeds reached 12 on the Beaufort Scale, which translates to 74 miles per hour, or hurricane strength, for 15 to 20 minutes, the administration said in an emailed response to questions. Between 9 and 10 p.m. on Monday, about two and a half inches of rain fell in the area, it said.
Yang Min, who was waiting in Shanghai on Tuesday for news about his parents and his 7-year-old daughter, who were on the ship, said he had called them about 9 p.m. Monday, just minutes before the vessel sank. “They said it was raining, but they didn’t say the weather was too bad,” Mr. Yang said by telephone.Yang Min, who was waiting in Shanghai on Tuesday for news about his parents and his 7-year-old daughter, who were on the ship, said he had called them about 9 p.m. Monday, just minutes before the vessel sank. “They said it was raining, but they didn’t say the weather was too bad,” Mr. Yang said by telephone.
But Zhang Hui, 43, a tour company employee who survived the disaster, told Xinhua that the ship encountered strong winds and lightning shortly after 9 p.m. “Raindrops hit the right side of the ship, and many cabins had water come in,” he said. “Even with the windows closed the water seeped in.” But Zhang Hui, 43, a tour company employee who survived the disaster, told Xinhua that the ship encountered strong winds and lightning shortly after 9 p.m.
“Raindrops hit the right side of the ship, and many cabins had water come in,” he said. “Even with the windows closed the water seeped in.”
Twenty minutes later, as passengers were busy dragging wet bedding and electrical devices from their berths, the ship tilted violently. “We’ve got a big problem,” he said he told a colleague. Mr. Zhang said he grabbed a life vest that kept him afloat as wave after wave crashed over him. “I told myself, ‘Just keep going.’ ”Twenty minutes later, as passengers were busy dragging wet bedding and electrical devices from their berths, the ship tilted violently. “We’ve got a big problem,” he said he told a colleague. Mr. Zhang said he grabbed a life vest that kept him afloat as wave after wave crashed over him. “I told myself, ‘Just keep going.’ ”
Satellite data on a Chinese website under the Ministry of Transportation shows that the Oriental Star made a sharp change in direction during its final minutes afloat, going downstream rather than upstream for more than five minutes. It traveled about 1,300 feet, or more than five times the length of the ship, before the last fix on the ship’s position was recorded by the website. Satellite data on a Chinese website under the Ministry of Transportation showed that the Oriental Star made a sharp change in direction during its final minutes afloat, going downstream rather than upstream for more than five minutes. It traveled about 1,300 feet, or more than five times the length of the ship, before the last fix on the ship’s position was recorded by the website.
The data only plotted the ship’s position. It was not clear whether the ship actually turned around on its own power or drifted downstream with the current before losing contact with the satellite.The data only plotted the ship’s position. It was not clear whether the ship actually turned around on its own power or drifted downstream with the current before losing contact with the satellite.
Alex Moran, 49, an American who worked for several years on ships on the Yangtze as a cruise director, said that captains on the river have wide discretion on when and where to stop. Alex Moran, 49, an American who worked for several years on ships on the Yangtze as a cruise director, said captains on the river had wide discretion on when and where to stop.
“The only reason you sail through a storm is because you have to, or really want to,” Mr. Moran wrote in an email from the Philippines, where he now lives. “I was always fighting with my captains and crews about this. I want the sailing schedule that is best for my guests. The captain wants what’s best for him and/or the crew, and he has the keys.”“The only reason you sail through a storm is because you have to, or really want to,” Mr. Moran wrote in an email from the Philippines, where he now lives. “I was always fighting with my captains and crews about this. I want the sailing schedule that is best for my guests. The captain wants what’s best for him and/or the crew, and he has the keys.”
Mr. Moran also noted that the windows on the staterooms of ships like the Oriental Star are not watertight, supporting the eyewitness account of Mr. Zhang. The ship was built in February 1994 and was capable of carrying 534 people, Xinhua reported. It belongs to the Chongqing Oriental Ferry Company, which is state-owned and deeply in debt. Last year the company reported assets of about $14.5 million and liabilities of $29.8 million, according to records filed with the government.
The Oriental Star was sailing between two of China’s largest cities, from Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, on the east coast, to Chongqing, an interior metropolis. That journey takes several days.
The ship, built in February 1994, is 251 feet long and 36 feet wide, and capable of carrying 534 people, Xinhua reported. It belongs to the Chongqing Oriental Ferry Company, which is state-owned and deeply in debt. Last year the company reported assets of about $14.5 million and liabilities of more than twice that amount, or $29.8 million, according to records filed with the government.
An employee of the company, who gave his surname as Deng, said Tuesday that much of its senior management was heading to the scene of the capsizing. Mr. Deng said there were no plans for the company, which has about half a dozen ships, to halt tours on its other vessels. “We’ll be very careful carrying out safety measures, that’s for sure,” he said by telephone.
Tuesday night, police officers had set up a checkpoint on the main road leading into the town of Jianli, the county seat. Many local residents stood holding umbrellas while various rescue and civilian vehicles remained parked in the vicinity or waited in line at the checkpoint.
Qin Jianli, 48, from the nearby village of Xinzhou, drove on a scooter with his young son from the direction of the rescue site. “It’s been busy all day today,” he said. “Last night around 9:30, the wind began blowing hard, with lots of lightning. It blew so hard it destroyed some homes in my village.”
“The wind swirled in a twisted shape,” he added.