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11/22/2024 08:01:09 am

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Death Toll Reaches 82 As China Rights Capsized Ship In Yangtze River

Rescue workers and a capsized ship

(Photo : Reuters) Rescue workers and a capsized ship are seen during a media trip to the site of the sinking, organized by the Chinese goverment, in the Jianli section of Yangtze River, Hubei province China, June 3, 2015.

The death toll from the capsized Chinese ship in the Yangtze River has grown to 82, state media said Friday. Authorities have also started righting the Eastern Star as there's no longer any hope of finding survivors of the disaster Monday night.

Righting of the ship, which carried 456 people when it capsized, began late Thursday as the search shifted from survivors to missing bodies, according to the Associated Press.

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Rescuers, mostly from the military worked overnight to right the ship. Media photos show the ship lying on its side Friday.

Rescuers were only able to retrieve 14 survivors, which included the captain and the chief engineer.

By Friday, state broadcaster CCTV announced that righting of the Easter Star was finished, and that teams are still trying to lift the vessel despite water weighing down the ship.

More than 200 divers were deployed in an effort to find more survivors, but murky waters have proven the rescue operation difficult. There were no survivors found after the 14 people found Monday night.

"In a situation in which the overall judgment is that there is no chance of people being alive, we could start the work of righting the boat," said Transport Ministry Spokesman Xu Chengguang in a news conference late Thursday.

Ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, the head power in China, noted the sensitivity of the disaster, calling for local authorities to be helpful to grieving families and "earnestly safeguard social stability".

In Jianli County in Hubei province where the ship overturned, many family members became livid over scarce information being provided by the government. They asked for names of the survivors and the 82 who have died.

They have also questioned why most of those rescued were crew members, reported Reuters.

Some also demanded answers as to why the boat did not dock during the cyclone and why the captain and crew members had life vests on but had not signaled an alarm.

At a news briefing in Jianli, government spokesman Hu Kaihong said that more than 1,200 family members have already gathered.  In the meantime, Beijing promised "no cover-up" in the disaster investigation.

Meteorological authorities in the country said that the tornado at the time, which had winds of up to 73 mph, had contributed greatly in the disaster. Disaster accounts in China's state-run media have also emphasized weather, not human error, as the chief cause of the disaster, according to The Los Angeles Times.

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