CRI听力:432 Confirmed Dead in Yangtze Shipwreck

The search area for the final missing people extends downriver from the site of the shipwreck.

You Xigui, director of Hubei provincial transport department, says search teams are still working 24/7.

"Some passengers remain missing after the Eastern Star was hoisted from the water upright. We issued an emergency notice yesterday afternoon, assembling police patrol vessels, civilian ships and more than 260 people to search the downstream waters along the Yangtze River. We have also set up 69 stations in the ports along the river for garrison and searching. Now the around-the-clock search operation is underway."

A ceremony was held on the banks of the Yangtze River Sunday morning to commemorate those who lost their lives.

Hundreds of those who took part in the rescue operations, standing alongside the grieving relatives of the victims, observed three-minutes of silence in tribute to the over 400 people who lost their lives last Monday.

The solemn ceremony is part of Chinese tradition, which calls for a period of mourning a week after a tragedy takes place.

Meanwhile, local authorities have also sped up forensic analysis to identify the bodies retrieved from the sunken ship.

Guo Tangyin, deputy head of the Hubei police, says teams are now matching DNA samples.

"A lot of bodies were recovered and brought to the surface after the ship was hoisted upright from the water on June 5. We had organized 21 teams for the non-stop work. The workers disinfected and transported the bodies. They also took samples from the bodies and matched samples to confirm the identities. So far, the teams have completed tests on 412 dead bodies and taken blood samples from 434 family members."

With the rescue work drawing to a close, more people are starting to wonder what caused the fatal accident.

You Qinghuam, with Shanghai Maritime University, believes a relatively longer alarm response time was the major reason that only 14 people survived.

"Firstly, the signal for help was not sent out this time. It takes too long to receive the message that the ship is in danger, which means the loss of much prime time for search and rescue work. This is the main reason that only 14 have survived. Secondly, the ship has neither VDR - a black box - nor an automatic alarm system. This is another major flaw of inland ships. If there are black boxes and automatic alarm systems, the alarm response time would be much shorter."

He adds that as the ship overturned quickly, there was hardly time for passengers to react.

With the fact that the passengers on board were mainly seniors, it would have been difficult for these people to save themselves, given the circumstances.

Investigators have not yet reached a conclusion regarding the cause of the disaster, while Chinese authorities have pledged transparency in the ongoing probe.

The ship's captain is currently under investigation amid questions about why the ship didn't drop anchor after storm alerts reportedly went out just before the accident took place.

For CRI, I'm Niu Honglin.