Sinking of Dong Fang Zhi Xing
The Most Serious Shipwreck In China
MV Dong Fang Zhi Xing (Chinese: 東方之星) was a river cruise ship that operated in the Three Gorges region of inland China. On 1 June 2015, the ship was traveling on the Yangtze River in Jianli.
The ship's positioning Friday was a step forward in the dayslong nightmare playing out on a section of the Yangtze River that flows through Hubei province(湖北省).
Time
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21:28,(UTC+8)
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Date
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1 June 2015
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Location
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Coordinates
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29.712283°N,112.923589°E
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Participants
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454
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Outcome
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Ship sank,12 rescued
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Deaths
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442
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Survivors
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12
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Detailed procedure
Around 9:28 pm on 1 June 2015, Dong Fang Zhi Xing was making a 1,500 km (930 mile) trip from Nanjing to Chongqing via the Yangtze River. When the ship was nearJingzhou, it was caught in a storm and sank in approximately 15 m (49 ft) deep waters. The captain and thechief engineer said that the ship was hit by a tornado, and the China Meteorological Administration confirmed that a tornado occurred in Jianli County with wind-speeds reaching EF1 strength, or approximately 138–177 km/h (86–110 mph). It is believed that the tornado struck the river near the ship's location.
Questions about cause of disaster
Questions remain about what happened to the Eastern Star.Authorities have taken the captain and the chief engineer into custody but have revealed little about what they have said, other than that a tornado hit the ship.
It's unclear why the Eastern Star was the only ship on the busy waterway so badly affected by the storm.
Satellite information from a website run by the Transport Ministry shows the cruise ship suddenly changing direction a matter of minutes before authorities say it sank.
But what caused the ship to start moving downstream rather than upstream isn't clear. One possibility is that the change in direction came after the ship was left disabled and drifting by the storm.
Top government officials have demanded an investigation into the cause of the disaster.
Structure of the
lead
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WHEN
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1 June 2015
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WHERE
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Yangtze River in
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WHAT
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Sinking of Dong Fang Zhi Xing
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WHO
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Passengers
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WHY
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Thunder storm
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HOW
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442 people dead
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