Police, relatives of missing passengers of China ship clash
Clashes have broken out between police and relatives of hundreds of missing people on board a cruise ship which recently capsized on the Yangtze River in China's central province of Hubei.
The clashes erupted outside a local government building in China's commercial hub of Shanghai on Wednesday, with the missing passengers’ families demanding information about their loved ones.
They were also asking the Shanghai local government to take them to the banks of the river, where the vessel overturned on Monday.
"The police first formed a human wall and didn't let us in. Then the relatives ... started to shout. Some policemen hit people," said a woman whose mother was on the capsized boat.
Meanwhile, the mother of a seven-year-old who was also on the boat said the relatives were desperate for more information, adding, "We need to go to the site [of the tragedy]. That's our common appeal.”
Tight media control was further reported at the Jianli County People's Hospital, where families of the missing passengers arrived in search of their loved ones.
"We drove from 10 p.m. last night to 6 a.m. this morning to get here," a woman at the hospital said, adding that her aunt and uncle had been on board.
Although rescuers were facing low visibility in the muddy waters of the river, they would keep searching for the survivors, Xu Chengguang, China’s Transport Ministry spokesman, said.
The latest developments come as Chinese authorities have reportedly declared an exclusion zone around the site of the shipwreck.
The Eastern Star, with 456 people, mostly elderly, on board, was traveling along a tourist route from the eastern city of Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing on May 1 when it capsized.
According to state media, eighteen people are confirmed dead while 14 others have been rescued.
A massive search operation is currently underway to find the capsized vessel's missing passengers. The captain and the chief engineer of the ship, who were among those rescued, have been taken into custody.
SSM/HMV/GHN
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