Renewed Safety Concerns as Chinese River Ferry Capsizes with 400 People Aboard

June 2, 2015

Rescuers in central China are scrambling to find survivors from a cruise ship carrying more than 400 people that overturned in the Yangtze river Monday night, as confirmation of passenger deaths begin to emerge.

Five bodies were found and 12 people saved, local newspaper Hubei Daily reported on its microblog. The captain and chief engineer, who were among those rescued, have been detained by police and are being questioned, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The vessel capsized about 9:30 p.m. Monday after being caught in a storm as it traveled westward from the city of Nanjing to Chongqing, Xinhua cited the captain and engineer as saying.

There were 458 aboard, mostly elderly, aged from 50 to 80, the Hubei Daily said.

The incident adds to concerns about public safety in the world´s most-populous nation. Last month, a fire at an elderly care facility killed 38 people. A stampede in Shanghai on New Year´s Eve killed 36 and prompted a review of safety at the city´s public spaces.

The sinking of the cruise ship is the latest in a series of recent accidents in China. It highlights concerns about safety in the world’s most populous nation. The country has witnessed a series of safety-related accidents over the past few years.

These include the following:
* An explosion ignited by metal dust at a factory in Kunshan city near Shanghai killed 146 people last August.
* A fire at a poultry plant in June 2013 in the northeastern province of Jilin left 120 people dead, in China’s deadliest blast since 2000.
* A high-rise apartment in central Shanghai caught fire in November 2010, killing 58, after unlicensed electric welders set scaffolding on fire. The accident led the government to impose more stringent fire control measures.
* A high-speed rail crash near the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou in July 2011 killed 40 people, including two Chinese-Americans and an Italian woman. The accident was blamed on mismanagement and design flaws on the trains.
* A stampede on Shanghai’s historic Bund riverside area last New Year’s Eve killed 36. Four officials were fired for failing to provide sufficient security after President Xi Jinping ordered a probe and a review of safety in public places.

Topics China

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