Boat capsizes in Henan, 2 dead 43 missing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-23 10:12

Forty-three people are still missing after a tourist boat capsized Tuesday evening at the Xiaolangdi Reservoir in Henan Province on the lower reaches of the Yellow River, local government sources said early Wednesday, and two have been confirmed dead.

An injured tourist is sent to hospital for treatment June 22, 2004. [newsphoto]

The accident occurred at around 8:00 p.m. The boat Mingzhu No. 2 carrying a group of sightseers, suddenly sanked during a rainstorm in the reservoir in Jiyuan City of central China's Henan Province, and 69 people on board fell into the water.

Witnesses said the wind force at the time had exceeded seven.

Local authorities immediately organized rescue work, but by 4:00 a.m. Wednesday, 43 people were still missing, said Hao Qingnen, deputy secretary of Jiyuan municipal committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who was monitoring the rescue work.

Earlier report said that by midnight, over 20 people were salvaged and one body was found.

A tourist is rescued by locals. [newsphoto]

A third-round silt-washing operation is currently going on in the Yellow River and a huge amount of water is running down from the reservoir and churning the sediment in the lower reaches of the river.

The tourists were all staff members of Xinghua Fine Chemical Plant in Kaifeng city, whose management had organized a site survey to the operation site for 129 officials and CPC members on Tuesday.

The provincial tourism administration has issued an emergency notice overnight to ban visit in the reservoir during the wilt-washing operation.

The rescue work is still underway.

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