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Strict Penalties to Mete Out for Wreck
Strict penalties will be meted out to those responsible for the capsizing of the boat that killed 130 people last Thursday in Hejiang County, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, said provincial Governor Zhang Zhongwei.
The boat owner Liang Rubin and captain Zhou Shoujin were arrested last Friday.
"They violated safety regulations and gave false information on the number of people on board after the incident," said a source from the local public security bureau in Hejiang.
On Thursday morning, the boat that carried 221 passengers struck a reef in the Yangtze in heavy fog and sank near Rongshan Town in Hejiang, half an hour after it began the trip.
By 6 pm yesterday, 62 bodies had been retrieved as rescue teams combed the river between Hejiang and downstream Fuling. Another 69 passengers were still missing, and 90 passengers had been saved.
In addition to heavy fog, overloading and crew negligence were blamed for the accident.
The boat was designed to hold a maximum of 101 people. "In the flood season, it was supposed to hold only 70 people," said Teng Fucai, deputy director of the Safety Office of the Department of Labour in Sichuan.
"The crew should have stopped sailing because of the heavy fog on the Yangtze," said the source who refused to be identified. After the incident, the crew lied, claiming only about 110 people were on board.
On Saturday, Liu Shaoyou, owner of a nearby boat at time of the accident, was detained. Liu, 53, had refused to save the victims and fled the scene.
Liu's sailing licence was revoked, and he was made to pay a fine of 4,500 yuan (US$543).
In contrast to Liu, three small fishing boats nearby braved heavy fog and running currents to save six victims.
Wang Bangliang, a 35-year-old farmer, was tossed into the water when the boat sank. Rather than swim away to safety, he saved 15 lives.
As passengers were insured by the sunken boat, each victim will get 4,000 yuan (US$483) in compensation, said Sichuan Vice-Governor Wang Jinxiang.
The Luzhou municipal government has offered a 1,000-yuan (US$121) subsidy to the family of each victim. Hejiang is under the jurisdiction of Luzhou.
On Saturday, a central government investigation group consisting of officials of the Ministry of Communications and the State Economic and Trade Commission started an investigation into the cause of the incident.
Rongshan town is immersed in sorrow these days. While feeling lucky for not being on-board, locals said they feel sad for the death of victims with whom many of them were familiar.
"It wasn't the first time such an incident had occurred," said 89-year-old Mou Wenxing. Several months ago, an overburdened boat sank in Rongshan, he said.
"Many incompetent and unlicensed boatmen are still sailing in the Rongshan section of the Yangtze. It's high time to deal with the problem," said Li Xiumei, a local villager.
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