2015年CRI 东方之星客轮遇难者上升到396人

 

The Eastern Star was carrying 456 people on an 11-day trip up the river from Nanjing to Chongqing when it capsized near the small community of Jianli in Hubei.

The ship, said to have been hit by a tornado¹ around 9 in the evening on Monday, took only around a minute to capsize.

Most of the passengers on the ship, elderly sight-seers from the Shanghai area, had already gone to bed when the storm hit.

Of the 456 people onboard at the time, only 14 people have been found alive so far.

Xiong Wei, professor and maritime² salvage³ expert with Dalian Maritime University says rescue crews did exactly what they should have done when it came to the search for possible survivors⁴.

"The first thing to do is to drill holes into the bottom of the hull⁵. The second is to send divers⁶ into the individual cabins to take people out who are trapped. The last step is to lift the ship out of the water. All of these steps have now been taken. This is the standard method used when it comes to accidents such as this."

The Eastern Star was pulled from the water on Friday night after searchers determined⁷ they were not going to find any survivors by continuing to send divers into the submerged vessel⁸.

Professor Xiong Wei says extracting the boat from the river was, in itself, a challenging task.

"For example, crews had to get a clear picture of the ships condition, such as how much damage was done to the upturned ship, what it was like at the bottom of the river, where should the cable go and how they could be attached. Things like that take quite a long time. In actual fact, the first divers on the scene would have been collecting information from their rescue dives to prepare for the entire salvage."

Many of the over one-thousand relatives of the victims, who had gathered on the riverbank, broke down in tears as the ship emerged from the murky⁹ waters.

The Chinese Armed Police Force based in Hubei has been charged with collecting the remains¹⁰ of the victims.

Local CAPF Commander Zhou Xuguang says they are working to ensure the victim's bodies are properly cared for.

"We have created a special plan to wash the bodies, register their identities, and move them to the morgue. Our soldiers will first pay a silent tribute to the victims before carefully removing them from the scene. Six soldiers will accompany each body to a designated site off-scene."

The Ministry¹¹ of Transport said on Saturday that oil leaking from the capsized Eastern Star in the Yangtze River has been cleaned up.

Oil spilled from the cruise ship when it was hoisted¹² from the water on Friday morning, and river authorities have moved quickly before serious pollution occurred.

The Eastern Star had been in service for nearly 20 years, and was authorized¹³ to carry up to 534 people.

A lawyer for the Chongqing Dongfang Shipping¹⁴ Company, which owns the Eastern Star, says the ship itself went through annual maintenance checks late last year, and was qualified¹⁵ to sail until next year.

The captain and chief engineer have been detained by the police for questioning.

Chinese president Xi Jinping is calling for a thorough investigation¹⁶ into the incident and has promised to make the findings public.

Meanwhile, some 500 grief councilors have been dispatched to Jianli to help the families of the victims through their ordeal¹⁷.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.

1 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

2 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

3 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

6 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

7 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

8 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

9 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 hoisted   

把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He hoisted himself onto a high stool. 他抬身坐上了一张高凳子。
• The sailors hoisted the cargo onto the deck. 水手们把货物吊到甲板上。

13 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

14 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

15 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

16 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

17 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。