The death toll in China cruise ship disaster has risen
to 331, state media has said, making it China’s
deadliest boat disaster in nearly seven decades.

Disaster teams on Saturday searched the now-
upright ship for more bodies as more than 100
remained unaccounted for.

Just 14 people have been confirmed alive out of the
456 – mostly tourists aged over 60 – on board when
the “Eastern Star” rapidly sunk on the Yangtze river in a storm on Monday.

Authorities gave the death toll of 331 as of 08:00 am
(0000 GMT) on Saturday, the state-run Xinhua news
agency said.

Xinhua earlier gave the total of confirmed dead as
345, but then revised it down to 331. An official said
on Thursday that no new survivors are expected to
be found.

Authorities have attributed the overturning of the
cruise boat to sudden, severe winds, but also have
placed the surviving captain and his first engineer
under police custody.

Passengers’ relatives have raised questions about
whether the ship should have continued its cruise
after the storm started in a section of Hubei province
and despite a weather warning earlier in the evening.


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The vessel was cited for safety infractions two years
ago, according to a notice by the Nanjing Maritime
Bureau, but no further details have been given about
the state of the ship.

Information about the sinking and media access to
the site have been tightly controlled, and any online
criticism of the search operation quickly doused.