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Ship Carrying 458 passengers Capsizes In China

A ship capsized late Monday in stormy weather as it ferried 458 passengers and crew along a stretch of the Yangtze that winds through central China's Hubei province, authorities said.



By Tuesday afternoon, only 15 survivors and five bodies had been recovered, state media reported, amid a desperate effort to reach those trapped inside the wreck.

Divers plunged into the river, and rescue workers gathered along part of the vessel's upturned hull that was sticking out of the water.

They knocked on the body of the almost completely submerged ship and heard responses from inside, a state-run local newspaper reported. Welders were trying to cut the cabin open.

The images of the upended ship evoked memories of the sinking of the Sewol, the South Korean passenger ferry that sank last year, taking the lives of more than 300 people, most of them high school students.

In this case, the majority of the 406 passengers on the cruise were between 50 and 80 years old, according to a list published by state media. The youngest was only 3 years old.

There were also 47 crew members and five travel agency workers on board, according to state media. All of those on board were reported to be Chinese citizens.

Unless a lot more people are rescued, the Yangtze River sinking is set to become the deadliest passenger ship disaster in Asia since the the Sewol went down.
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