|
The work to salvage a passenger liner, what capsized on the Yangtze River on June 19 after colliding with a freighter, has been postponed to guarantee navigation safety on the longest river of China in the flood season, sources said Sunday.
Salvagers have located "Fuzhou 10," the sunken ship belonging to the Yangtze River Three Gorges Shipping Co., at the estuary to the upper reaches of the Jiandao Gorge.
However, rescue work could not continue because of fast rising water level and swift flow of the Yangtze in the flood season and the complicated conditions at the river bed, said sources with the leading group for investigating into the cause of the accident.
Given that the sunken ship would not hold up navigation on the Yangtze, experts from the Ministry of Communications, Maritime Safety Administration, China National Offshore Oil Corp. and salvage companies, who are directing the salvage work, decided the rescue work be suspended for the time being.
"Fuzhou 10" was sailing downstream when it collided with a freighter heading upstream near Longqiao Town, Fuling District of Chongqing, at 7:55 a.m., June 19.
By 4:00 p.m., June 22, 12 people aboard the passenger ship had been confirmed survived and 49 others were still missing. Local police had recovered 10 bodies.
Investigations into the cause of the fatal shipwreck and work to deal with the aftermath of the accident are still going on smoothly.
(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2003)
|
