Work crews turned a capsized Chinese cruise ship upright on Friday, continuing to retrieve bodies of the missing 330 people and holding onto little hope that anyone would be found alive.
The Eastern Star cruise ship was on the Yangtze river Monday when it capsized in stormy weather with more than 450 people on board; the death toll is expected to reach
440 people, The Associated Press reported. Fourteen people survived the accident, with three of those saved by divers after they were discovered in air pockets under the hull on Tuesday.
Divers have been searching the waters around the capsized ship, continually recovering bodies in what is being called China’s worst maritime disaster to date.
On Friday morning, Xu Chengguang, Transport Ministry spokesperson, told the AP that the total number of bodies found so far was 97. Righting the ship will allow it to be drained of water and help recover more bodies. Divers already had cut three holes in the hull earlier in the week, hoping to find more survivors.
Xu told the AP previously that bars would be put under the ship that would allow two 500-ton cranes to pull it out of the water.
"I can't imagine how terrifying it must have been for them," farmer Wang Xun said of the victims. "Old people should be with their families and go peacefully, not like this."
One family from northern China lost three of six sisters in the cruise
ship disaster, The Wall Street Journal reported. The three women, with two of their husbands and some friends, had posted pictures of their trip to social media. Their bodies have not been recovered.
The Eastern Star went down in bad weather, and authorities have said it was caught “in a small, short-lived tornado,” The Journal said.
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