China has formed a 60-member team to probe last week’s >cruise ship sinking following orders from President Xi Jinping to find the cause of the country’s worst maritime disaster in seven decades.
Just 14 people survived the capsizing of the Eastern Star amid heavy rain and wind on the evening of June 1 as it was carrying 456 people, many of them elderly tourists, on a cruise to the Yangtze River port of Chongqing.
State broadcaster CCTV reports on Wednesday that surviving crew members and witnesses, those who designed and modified the ship, and others who may have useful input have been interviewed.
ADVERTISEMENT
It said video footage and other evidence has been obtained from the ship, and weather, radar and other data was being analyzed for indications of what went wrong.