CRI听力:Underwater Search for Victims of Capsized Ship Completes

Local authorities say the underwater search has been completed at the site where the Eastern Star came to a rest in the Yangtze River, but none of the bodies of the eight people who remain missing have been found.

Divers entered the water after the capsized passenger ship was righted and moved upstream.

CRI's Huang Shan has more.

On Tuesday, 13 divers re-entered the water after the ship was moved, following an extensive room-by-room search of the passenger vessel that confirmed no victims remained onboard.

Director of Diving Operations Huang Chenglong explains the focus of the underwater search.

"We mainly searched the space between rocks and underneath debris, because we fear that some people could have grabbed something heavy and fallen into the water during the capsizing. In that way their body could be trapped under the object. So we need to search those places."

Onshore rescuers have also applied a 3-dimensional imaging sonar system in order to identify objects that were suspected to be the remains of missing passengers.

Engineer Wu Zhenlei explains.

"When the object underwater reflects the sound wave, we can clearly see its shape in the form of a 3-dimensional image. Through the image we can determine whether the object is what we are looking for. There are many big rocks underwater, some of them measuring two or three meters in diameter. So we have to measure every suspected object that we find, and if the object is in the shape of what we are looking for, we will send the divers to find out."

Searching along the river continues.

Meanwhile, a local hospital says the first rescued passenger from the ship wreck has recovered and has been released.