12 Feared Dead After Ferry Sinks In Eastern China

[News_Editor]

12 feared dead after ferry sinks in eastern China < br />

2012-08-17 22:19:06 GMT+7 (ICT)

HEFEI, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Twelve people are missing and feared to have drowned after a ferry boat sank on a river in eastern China, government officials said on Friday. Nine other people on board the vessel have been rescued and taken to hospital.

The accident happened at around 1:40 a.m. local time on Thursday in the Ma'anshan section of the Yangtze River, the country's longest river, in China's eastern province of Anhui. The boat was carrying 21 people on a trip from Ma'anshan City to Hexian County when the accident happened.

"As of now, nine people have been rescued and search-and-rescue is in progress for twelve people still missing," a spokesperson for the State Administration of Work Safety said. Several of the survivors were taken to the intensive care unit at Ma'anshan People's Hospital, but their conditions were not immediately known.

Authorities said they were investigating the cause of the accident.

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