300 More Bodies Found in China Ship Disaster

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/world/asia/300-more-bodies-found-in-china-ship-disaster.html

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BEIJING — Chinese soldiers and paramilitary police officers have recovered nearly 300 more bodies from the cruise ship that capsized last week, and officials said Saturday that they would continue searching the muddy waters of the Yangtze for the more than 40 people who remained missing.

A day after enormous cranes righted the overturned Oriental Star and lifted its four decks above the water line, officials said they had completed recovery work in the vessel and started DNA testing to identify the nearly 400 bodies that had been taken to mortuaries in Jianli, the riverside city in central Hubei Province that is the focus of the recovery efforts.

With recovery work complete, the state broadcaster, China Central Television, said investigators would begin examining the ship in an effort to determine the cause of the accident, one of Asia’s worst maritime disasters in decades.

The boat, carrying 456 passengers and crew members, capsized Monday night in a storm, and officials say the ship may have been hit by a tornado. Only 14 people survived, including the ship’s captain, who remains in custody.

Many family members have questioned why the captain pushed forward in heavy winds and rain when other vessels in the area dropped anchor to wait out the storm.

Most of the passengers on the 11-day cruise were retirees, and survivors said there was little warning before the ship flipped over. Among the bodies recovered Saturday was that of a 3-year-old girl, found in a fourth-floor cabin, who had been traveling with her grandparents, said Liu Xiaowu, a military commander leading the search efforts.

At a news conference on Saturday, Zhang Shifeng, an official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said family members would be allowed to view the bodies of their loved ones before cremation, which was deemed necessary because of the condition of the bodies; there were also plans for a riverside memorial service, and he said family members could expect monetary compensation, although he did not provide details.

On Friday, a representative of the ship’s owner, Chongqing Oriental Ferry Company, bowed before a group of Chinese reporters and apologized for the accident, calling it a “catastrophic calamity,” according to the China News Service. The executive, Jiang Zhao, said the ship had been modified over the years according to maritime regulations.

As the more than 1,000 family members in Jianli begin to identify the bodies of their loved ones, the official Xinhua news agency said television stations would modify their programing to avoid lighthearted fare. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, two eastern provinces that are home to many of the victims, broadcasters said they would halt all entertainment programs for two days, and the state broadcaster said it would suspend a popular talent show, “Avenue of the Stars.”

After days of complaining about a lack of information — and about having their movements constrained by government minders — some family members expressed relief that they would finally be able to begin preparing funeral arrangements.

Interviewed by phone, a 25-year-old woman from Shanghai whose 51-year-old mother was among the victims, criticized the government’s handling of the recovery process but said she was pleased that local officials were organizing a riverside memorial service for families from Shanghai on Saturday night.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear of angering the authorities, said she was especially moved by the generosity of residents in Jianli. “When we went to a local shop to print photos and buy flowers, the store owners refused to take our money,” she said. “The people here have been very kind.”