The
Eastern Star overturned late on Monday after being caught in a storm.
Just
14 of the 456 passengers and crew are known to have survived what looks set to
be China
Authorities
say the chances of finding anyone still alive were "slim".
"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," Transport
Ministry Spokesperson Xu Chengguang had told reporters at a news conference on
Thursday.
Why did cruise ship capsize?
Rescue
workers on the upturned hull, which was just barely visible over the brown
waters of the Yangtze, were towered over by two cranes.
Hooks were welded onto
the ship and a net stretched around the entire structure in preparation for
lifting it.
By first light on Friday, the ship
could be seen lying on its side with its name visible just above the water.
Xinhua state news agency later tweeted a picture of the righted vessel, its roof
apparently crushed.
As
the ship is righted, the focus of emergency workers at the site in Jianli , Hubei
Mr
Xu said on Friday that the next step was to raise the ship entirely above the
water to conduct the search.
So
far 97 bodies have been recovered, some after three holes were cut into the
vessel's upturned hull. The holes were later welded closed in order to preserve
the ship's buoyancy.
Mr Xu said there had
been no further signs of life inside the ship, Xinhua news agency reports.
He
said officials would "absolutely not cover up anything" in the
investigation, state media reports.
Chinese
President Xi Jinping promised a thorough investigation into the cause of the
disaster, after angry relatives protested at the scene.
Authorities
tightly controlled access to the site, leading family members and journalists
to complain about a lack of information.
Most of the 14 people
known to have survived jumped from the ship as it began to sink. Three were
rescued by divers from air pockets in the upturned hull.
The
cause of the sinking is not yet known, but survivors have spoken of an intense
storm which flipped the boat over in minutes.
The
captain and chief engineer, who were among those who escaped, have since been
detained.
Maritime
agency records showed the ship was investigated for safety violations two years
ago. It was held alongside five other vessels in 2013 over safety concerns.
The
Eastern Star could become China 's
deadliest boat accident since the SS Kiangya sank off Shanghai
Lead of Structure:
WHO- Chinese government
WHAT- It seemed that more than 400 had died
WHEN- not mentioned
WHERE- Yangtze River
WHY- Due to the capsized
HOW- not mentioned
Keywords:
1. salvager 打撈
2. capsized 翻船
3. righted 糾正
4. buoyancy 浮力
5. hull 船殼
6. cruise 巡航
7. maritime 海上
8. upturned 翻過來的
9. crane 起重機
10. weld 焊接
Usually, many accidents are caused by artificial mistakes. Without doing appropriate work to this ship, the accident was occured and so many innocent people died. If everyone could take their job more seriously, there might not have been a lot of regrets.
回覆刪除I think when happened the big accidents,the government should publish the information and comfort the relative of victims. And the captain didn't take his responsibility, he escaped instand. No matter what happened, we should try our best to do the job.
回覆刪除Actually , there have many incidents that are all related to a big problem-the security. We tend to ignore the importance of the security when making money.But what problems come with are that accidents .After this event, I think we have get some warm and we have to take it more seriously.
回覆刪除