Rescue work has come to an end after rescuers recovered bodies
of all the eight crew members that went missing following early
Wednesday's shipwreck in the Pearl River, the local government
said.
A 1,181-ton ship carrying 11 crew and a shipment of sand capsized
and sank at 2:42 a.m. on Wednesday in the Guangzhou section of the
river.
Two sailors were rescued on Wednesday. The captain, Shi Yuede,
fled the ship before it sank and also survived the accident.
But Shi didn't show up until Thursday, when he told
investigators he had jumped into the water in panic. He's under
investigation at the provincial maritime bureau.
The sunken ship was retrieved two and a half hours after the
accident.
The ship owner has committed to compensate all the victims in
line with their insurance policies and relevant laws. The ship and
all its crew members have commercial insurance against
shipwrecks.
The accident occurred when the ship tried to turn around in a
fast-flowing section of the river, according to the south China
rescue administration of the Ministry of Communications.
(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2007)