China cruise ship final death toll stands at 442
Chinese authorities have announced the final death toll from a cruise ship that sank on Yangtze River earlier this month.
The “Eastern Star” tourist boat was overturned on June 1 due to storm in the central province of Hubei.
Xinhua news agency on Saturday quoted Tang Guanjun, the director of the river’s navigation authority, as saying that just 12 people survived the incident out of a total of 454 people on board. The passengers were mainly tourists in their 60s. The remaining 442 people were confirmed dead.
The official added that all of the dead have been identified thorough DNA testing and the bodies have been given to families.
The final death toll was declared after search and rescue teams combed the ship thoroughly for days before taking it out of the water with vast cranes.
A probe into the fatal sinking is still ongoing, Tang said.
Family members of the victims, meanwhile, have posted a petition on the social media service WeChat, demanding the death penalty for the captain, who is among the few survivors of the disaster and is in police custody.
The shipwreck is China’s worst since 1949, when the Communist Party came to power. Back in 1948, about 4,000 people on board the SS Kiangya lost their lives when it sank near the city of Shanghai.
MR/HSN/HMV
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