Rescuers have succeeded in hoisting a bus out of the water,
which slipped off a ferry and sunk to the bottom of a river in east
China. They have recovered eight bodies, including two children and
two women.
The identities of the victims could not be immediately
confirmed. Earlier in the day, rescuers pulled five survivors and
one body out of the river.
The accident occurred at around 11:00 AM on the Xinjiang River
in Yugan County, Shangrao City of eastern Jiangxi, when a bus with a seating capacity of
19 was boarding the ferry.
Local rescuers said the bus drove onto the stationary ferry but,
instead of braking, carried on moving and plunged into the river.
It is not yet known why the driver failed to stop.
"According to witnesses, 20 to 30 passengers were on board,
including children going to summer school, and we don't know the
exact figures yet," said Wang Xiaoyan, director of the county
government's publicity department." The bus was heading from the
downtown area to the suburbs of Heshan Township.
The windshield of the bus had broken so there may be other
passengers in the river, Wang said. Four marine boats are searching
for other missing passengers in the river.
Huang Gewei, a resident from the nearby Xinfeng Township, said
his son, Yangyang, 12, was on the bus and he did not know whether
he was among the bodies recovered or still missing.
Another resident named Wang Zhenghui said his 29-year-old
sister, who was three months pregnant, and his eight-year-old
nephew Wang Putian were also on board.
Hong Lihe, a vice governor in Jiangxi Province has arrived in
Yugan to direct the rescue work.
The Xinjiang River runs about 400 kilometers from the Huaiyu
Mountain in eastern Jiangxi and flows into Poyang Lake, China's
largest freshwater lake in northern Jiangxi.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)