Prioritize Saving Lives from Capsized Ship, Says Chinese Premier

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for “all-out efforts” to save lives following the sinking of a passenger ship with 458 people on board in central China’s Hubei section of the Yangtze River on Monday night.

Chairing a meeting to direct the rescue and emergency response work as he took a plane to the site, Li said saving lives should be the top priority Tuesday.

He instructed a State Council work team to rush to the scene to guide search and rescue work. He urged all rescuers to “carry out search and rescue work at all costs and properly handle the aftermath”.

The Ministry of Transport, the China National Tourism Administration and other departments were ordered to mobilize all resources available to speed up the search and rescue work and help treat rescued people.

Li called for regular and transparent updates on the rescue and investigation, and said authorities must ensure adequate funding and personnel to conduct rescue work, comfort victims’ families and investigate the cause of the accident.

The ship, named Dongfangzhixing, or Eastern Star, sank at around 21:28 on Monday in the Jianli on the Yangtze River, according to the Yangtze River navigation administration.

Carrying 406 passengers, five travel agency workers and 47 crew members, the ship was heading from Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, for southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality.

As soon as he arrived at the site, Li embarked on a ship and gave instructions.

He told the rescuers that every minute was precious for rescue work and any possible plan or measure should be tried to the utmost.

Li witnessed rescuers saving a survivor who was found trapped inside the cabinet of the capsized ship.

He expressed his gratitude to the rescuers when he saw the survivor carried out of water by two divers at around 12:52.

Li said it was a miracle of life that a passenger was rescued more than ten hours after the ship sank and it would give confidence to the following rescue operation.

So far, 14 survivors have been accounted and five bodies recovered by rescuers, with more than 430 still remain missing.