Search for Yangtze River survivors

More than 2,000 people and 100 vessels were involved in searches for missing passengers after a cruise ship capsized on the Yangtze River on June 1 with 456 aboard.

Rescuers had recovered another 39 bodies on June 4, taking the death toll to 69.

Only 14 of those on board the Eastern Star when it overturned during a storm had been found alive as of June 4, according to authorities in Jianli county, Hubei province, where the accident occurred.

Rescuers have cut open the hull so divers can go inside the vessel to search for the missing passengers.

More than 2,000 rescuers, including 202 divers, and 131 boats have participated in the operation, the Ministry of Transport said.

Three salvage ships have been preparing to get the Eastern Star out of the 15-meter-deep water, the ministry said.

The search efforts would continue round the clock, said Xu Chengguang, a spokesman for the ministry.

Rescuers have expanded their search for survivors to 220 kilometers downstream.

The water near the ship is murky, impeding the rescue effort, Xu said.

When the ship capsized, objects inside were tossed about and could now block passages, complicating the underwater rescue, he said.

The Eastern Star capsized near Jianli in Central China's Hubei province at 9:28 pm on Monday.

The sightseeing ship was headed from Nanjing in eastern China to Chongqing when it encountered a heavy storm. It turned upside down almost instantly, according to the ship's captain and chief engineer, who have been detained by police for investigation.

The China Meteorological Administration confirmed on June 2 that there had been a tornado in the area at the time of the accident with wind speeds exceeding 115 kilometers per hour.

(China Daily European Weekly 06/05/2015 page2)