Death Toll Of Capsized Chinese Cruise Ship Rises To 431, With 11 People Still Missing

The number of those killed after a Chinese cruise ship capsized last week has risen, according to the BBC.

The number of those killed is now 431. Rescuers are still searching for the eleven people missing from the cruise ship that capsized in the Yangtze River. Only fourteen of the 465 passengers and crew are thought to have survived the disaster. Among those who have survived is the ship’s captain.

The Eastern Star capsized in the Yangtze River on Monday while in the middle of a storm, NBC reported. The ship was finally turned over on Friday, in an undertaking to recover the remains of the victims, the Inquisitr reported. Hooks were attached to parts of the ship, as a crane lifted the capsized ship out of the river. Rescuers were able to find most of the victims inside of the cruise ship.

Rescuers are still sweeping the river in search of the bodies of the victims. When the ship was turned over more bodies were recovered, which raised the death toll to 200.It is the worst shipping disaster in China in nearly seventy years.

The Chinese government is currently investigating the sinking and say that they would be disclosing the results of the investigation. A relative of one of the victims, who was Wang Chuanyu, 65, said about the tragedy.

“Our family is already gone. As relatives, we are still waiting for the final results of the government’s investigation.”

Most of the 405 passengers were mostly elderly tourists. There was also three-year-old and five travel guides. There were also 46 crew members.

More than 1,400 family members of those who died in the shipping disaster gathered near the river to memorialize their deceased loved ones.

Fourteen people survived by jumping into the river as the ship started sinking. Three more people were rescued by divers who found them in pockets of air in the capsized ship.

The cause of the ship capsizing is unknown, but the captain and the chief engineer were detained by authorities after the successfully escaped from the sinking vessel. Family members of those who died have called for the execution of the cruise ship’s captain.

The last time a ship was as deadly as the Eastern Star disaster in China was in 1948 when the S.S. Kiangya sank off the coast of Shanghai. Somewhere between 2,750 and 4,000 people were killed in the disaster. The last ship disaster in Asia was in April 2014 when a ferry in South Korea sank killing 304 people. Most of those who died were children on a school field trip.

[Photo credit: China Foto Press/ Getty Images News]