Cargo ship blamed for fatal Guangxi collision
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E-mail Xinhua, March 17, 2012
A cargo ship, one of two vessels involved in a collision that left 14 people dead and another four missing on Sunday in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was to blame for the incident, local officials said on Friday.
According to the investigation result statement released by the Guiping city government, the cargo ship loaded with porcelain clay was traveling outside of the river's designated shipping lane when it collided with the approaching passenger vessel on the Xunjiang river in the city of Guiping at 1:20 p.m. Sunday.
After noticing the passenger vessel, the cargo ship's pilot, Li Guixiong, sounded the horn as a warning, but did not decelerate or attempt any evasive maneuvers himself until 50 meters away from the point of collision, the statement said.
Li stopped and started to back off from the other ship immediately after seeing the passenger vessel was not moving to avoid the crash, but the collision still occurred, it added.
Li, together with the passenger vessel captain and the owners of both ships, was detained.
Rescuers are still looking for the missing passengers.
