CRUIS SHIP CAPSIZES ON YANGGTZ RIVER, HUNDREDS MISSING

Five people have reportedly died, hundreds missing after a cruise ship carrying 458 people capsized on the Yangtze River in China's Hubei province - Officials say at least 15 people survived, with some found alive inside the submerged hull of the Eastern Star.

Police has detained the captain and the chief engineer, who both survived,They say the boat was caught in a cyclone.

The boat sent no emergency signal, with the alarm reportedly raised by those who had swum to shore.

Chinese media quoted the captain as saying the vessel sank within minutes, while many people were asleep. there were severe thunderstorms in the area.

Most of those on board were tourists aged between 50 and 80 travelling from the eastern city of Nanjing to Chongqing in the south-west - a journey of at least 1,500km (930 miles).

The ship sank in the Damazhou waterway section of the Yangtze, where the world's third longest river reaches depths of about 15m (50ft).

Distraught relatives

Eastern Star - Dongfangzhixing in Chinese - had been carrying 406 Chinese passengers, five travel agency employees and 47 crew members.

The 76m-long ship weighs 2,200 tons, and could accommodate a maximum of 534 people.

But could bad weather the course of the Yangtze sinking?

Bad weather is hampering the rescue efforts. According to the People's Daily, three bodies were recovered in Yueyang, Hunan province, some 50km away.

At least 15 people have so far been rescued and some with minor injuries have been taken to hospital, officials said.

Speaking to Xinhua state news agency, tour guide Zhang Hui, a survivor, said  that heavy rain had come through cabin windows and many passengers went into the ship's hall to keep sheets and other items dry.

He said the ship then began to toss violently, to an angle of 45 degrees.

Mr Zhang said he had "30 seconds to grab a life jacket" and tried to hold on to what he could find to keep his head above water as the vessel overturned.

Mr Zhang said he heard the cries of at least a dozen other people in the water but after about 30 minutes, they all fell silent and he finally drifted into reeds and was rescued.

Zhang told news men that he climbed out of a window in the torrential rain. "Wave after wave crashed over me; I swallowed a lot of water," he said.

Reports said that over 50 boats, 100 divers and 3,000 soldiers and emergency personnel are involved in the rescue.

Footage on state TV showed divers knocking on the submerged hull with hammers to try to make contact with trapped people.

The Yangtze River boat sank at about 21:30 local time on Monday evening (13:30 GMT), but rescuers did not reach the vessel until at least two-and-a-half hours later.

Reports also had it that the vessel was owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corporation which runs tours to the scenic Three Gorges area along the Yangtze.

Relatives were seen scuffled with officials at a local government building in Shanghai, frustrated over the lack of information, lamenting that that phone calls to their loved ones on board were not getting through.

Sina News reported that a young man was seen sobbing by the door, saying: "Mum and Dad I was wrong, I shouldn't have let you go off on your holiday."

Credits:

Photos: Reuters, AFP, AP

Video Clips: BBC News

Story: J.D Blake (The Bloom Gist, China), Mike Ikenwa (The Bloom Gist, Nigeria)