Sinkie, Jap and French among more than 20 missing after tug boat capsizes in China

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:


Singaporean, Japanese and French among more than 20 missing after tug boat capsizes in China

Japanese, Singaporean and French among those at centre of search

PUBLISHED : Friday, 16 January, 2015, 11:19am
UPDATED : Friday, 16 January, 2015, 12:18pm

Agence France-Presse



A Singaporean, Japanese nationals and a Frenchman, are among more than 20 people still missing after a tug boat overturned and sank in the Yangtze River last night. Photo: Xinhua

A Singaporean, Japanese nationals and a Frenchman are among more than 20 people still missing after a tugboat overturned while on a trial voyage in China’s vast Yangtze river yesterday, state media and authorities said.

Three people were rescued, but the search for other survivors in the fast-flowing river was continuing.

Rescuers, who believe there are people trapped in the overturned cabin, were using a crane to lift the overturned boat out of the water, reports said.

Seven or eight foreigners, including a Singaporean, Japanese nationals and a Frenchman, are believed to be among the missing after the tug boat, with about 25 people on aboard, overturned during testing at about 3pm, authorities said this morning.

At least 23 vessels, including patrol boats and tug boats, have been carrying out a careful search for the missing people in the area where the boat capsized.

However, Xinhua quoted rescuers saying that their search was being hampered by strong river currents and freezing water temperatures.

The new vessel was undergoing testing in the eastern province of Jiangsu with the owner and technicians aboard, Xinhua said.



The tug boat overturned and sank in the Yangtze River last night while on a trail voyage. Photo: Xinhua

“Singaporean and Japanese nationals are confirmed among the missing people and a Frenchman may also be lost,” Xinhua said.

Wang Chenkai, one of the three people rescued, told Xinhua that he had been onboard as the interpreter for a Japanese engineer.

"Only the two of us were in the cockpit," he said.

"We had just finished [a test] of the main engine of the boat when the vessel suddenly slid over. Water immediately flowed in," Wang said.

He said he had survived by holding on to a hydraulic pump as the boat capsized.

Wang said he had taken hold of the Japanese engineer for only a moment before the river's swirling current pulled them apart again as the boat started sinking.

Xinhua reported that boat was built by Anhui Bengbu Shenzhou Machinery Co in October.

Media reports said the accident occurred on a stretch of the river, Asia’s longest, under the jurisdiction of Zhangjiagang city.

The provincial government said the boat had been undergoing trials without notifying the authorities, and without first reporting the condition of the vessel.





Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.