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More than 400 missing after ship sinks in China's Yangtze (w/video)

 
Rescue workers stand on the ship that capsized overnight on the Yangtze River, leaving more than 400 people missing. Search teams reported hearing sounds coming from inside the ship.
Rescue workers stand on the ship that capsized overnight on the Yangtze River, leaving more than 400 people missing. Search teams reported hearing sounds coming from inside the ship.
Published June 2, 2015

BEIJING — A small cruise ship sank overnight in China's Yangtze River during a storm, leaving at least one person dead and nearly 450 people missing, most of them elderly, state media said today. Ten people were rescued, the state media reports said.

Search teams heard sounds coming from within the partly submerged ship about 12 hours after it went down, state broadcaster CCTV said, and were trying to confirm whether they were from survivors trapped inside.

The ship was traveling from Nanjing upstream to the southwestern city of Chongqing when it sank Monday night in Hubei province, the report said.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted the captain and chief engineer, who were rescued, as saying the ship sank quickly after being caught in a cyclone. CCTV said seven of the survivors swam to shore and alerted officials to the sinking.

The four-level Eastern Star was carrying 406 Chinese passengers, five travel agency employees and 47 crew members, CCTV said. Ten people were rescued and one person was confirmed dead, it said. The broadcaster said most of the passengers were 50 to 80 years old.

The ship sank in the Damazhou waterway section, where the river is about 50 feet deep.

Video of the river showed calm water, with dozens of rescue personnel in bright orange vests gathered on the shore. Rescue ships were searching the water, and submersible craft were deployed. More than 50 boats were involved in search efforts.

The ship is owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corp., which focuses on tourism routes in the popular Three Gorges river canyon region.