Ships collide near Gorges Dam, seven missing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-15 09:46
YICHANG, Hubei -- Two cargo ships collided upstream from the Three Gorges Dam
on China's longest Yangtze River, leaving seven sailors missing, local
authorities said Saturday.
The collision took place at about 10:35 p.m.
on Friday near Quxikou, about seven kilometers upstream from the dam, in central
China's Hubei Province, said Ji Yujian, deputy director of the Three Gorges
Navigation Administration.
Ten people, including sailors and cargo
owners, were rescued after the collision, in which one ship carrying 263 heads
of cattle capsized, Ji said.
Three of the rescued are being treated at a
hospital in the county of Zigui, Ji said.
"Yet seven sailors and the cattle
remain missing and nine rescue boats are searching the area," he said.
The location of the capsized ship has been identified, he said. The ship
fell down about 90 meters deep into water 250 to 300 meters away from Quxikou,
he said.
Initial investigation shows that the sunken cattle ship is 30
meters long and six meters wide with a loading capacity of 250 tons. The ship
was registered in Wanzhou District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.
The legs of each cattle were bound together tightly when the ship sank.
The other boat hauling coal was registered in Yichang, Hubei.
"The collision did not affect normal traffic on the Yangtze River near
the Three Gorges Dam," Ji said.
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