Ship Collision in Southwest China Kills Nine

Published December 2nd, 2000 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Nine people were killed and several others missing when a passenger ship collided with a boat carrying sand and stones on Saturday in southwest China, state media reported. 

The accident happened around noon (0400 GMT) in Chongqing municipality's Tongnan county, Xinhua news agency reported. 

More than 20 people were on board the passenger ship when it sank and about a dozen had been rescued, it said. 

The two owners of the boats, who had tried to flee after the collision, had been detained. 

Earlier Saturday one sailor was confirmed dead and 13 were missing after a cargo ship sank in heavy weather near the mouth of the Yangtze River, Chinese shipping officials said. 

The Zhezhou 606 belonging to the Zhenhua Shipping Company in eastern China's Zhejiang province went down in force seven winds late Thursday after sending out distress signals, Tong Kaiping, spokesman for the company told AFP. 

Twenty crew members were aboard the ship when it sank, with seven sailors initially rescued but one dying in a Shanghai hospital, he said. 

The boat bound for the northern Chinese port of Dalian from Zhejiang's Wenzhou city, was carrying some 5,000 tons of steel, Tong said. 

Water from two-meter (six-feet) high waves swamped the ship making it impossible to give rescuers its exact location despite sending out the distress signal, he said -- BEIJING (AFP)  

 

 

© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

Subscribe

Sign up to our newsletter for exclusive updates and enhanced content