|
Official inquiry says squall and ‘inadequate
response’ of crew caused the Eastern Star to capsize on China’s Yangtze river in
June. An official inquiry has found that a freak storm caused the sinking
of a cruise ship on China’s Yangtze river with the death of nearly 450 people
and recommended the captain be investigated for possible crimes, state media
said on Wednesday.
The Eastern Star capsized with mostly elderly holidaymakers on board in June. It
was the country’s worst shipping disaster for more than six decades.
A six-month investigation by the cabinet-like State Council said the sinking was
caused by “freak” strong winds and heavy rains, an official website said.
Despite widespread public anger, the report
named only relatively low-level government officials as responsible for the
disaster which killed 442 people, and recommended sacking as their heaviest
punishment.
The Eastern Star encountered the squall during a trip from Nanjing to Chongqing
on the night of 1 June. A downburst, instead of a tornado as reported
previously, produced strong winds that overturned the vessel, the report said.
It said the captain and other staff made an “inadequate response” to the
situation, including failing to send a signal calling for rescue. Other
flaws by the company included lax monitoring of the vessel’s condition, it said.
A year of deadly accidents in China has raised questions over the ruling
Communist party’s ability to keep citizens safe and its resolve to hold
officials to account.
The inquiry recommended that Captain Zhang Shunwen – who was one of just 14
survivors – be passed to “legal departments” for investigation. A further
43 executives and officials were named as having failed in management, according
to a summary of the investigation published by state news agency Xinhua.
They include seven people from the company and 36 from government departments –
with the highest ranked at “vice-provincial level” and the majority of even
lower rank, Xinhua said.
But the highest punishment recommended for officials implicated in the accident
is sacking, the report said.
The report concluded that the disaster was caused by a mixture of bad weather
and management errors, according to the website of the State Administration of
Work Safety.
Communist party officials in past decades have covered up details of accidents
and disasters. The growing use of the internet and social media in recent years
spurred more detailed reporting of some disasters.
But media controls have been stepped up under president Xi Jinping, and access
to the Eastern Star sinking site and to relatives of passengers was tightly
limited, with censors quickly deleting online criticism.
A report in the Beijing News at the time of the sinking said changes made to the
Eastern Star when it was converted into a ferry might have made it more
susceptible to capsizing.
Similar controls on online comments and reporting were imposed after an
industrial explosion in the northern port city of Tianjin in August killed more
than 200 people.
More than 70 people are still missing people following a landslide in southern
China this month that occurred despite multiple warnings.
Some internet users reacted to the ferry investigation with scepticism. “The
result is released, and it’s useless,” Tian Boxue wrote on Sina Weibo, China’s
Twitter.
Another Weibo user wrote: “The higher level the official, the lighter the
punishment. Corrupt officials are clearly protected.” |
