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Family in China say relatives sent Thai boat's last moments

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Family in China say relatives sent Thai boat's last moments
News

News

Family in China say relatives sent Thai boat's last moments

2018-07-09 13:00 Last Updated At:13:00

The boat lists hard to the right, sending a man tumbling across an aisle toward windows that look almost straight down on fast-moving white-capped waves. Another man catches him and appears to laugh nervously. A woman cries out. Someone else adjusts the child they are holding tightly in their lap.

The 10 second video captures the chaotic final moments of the Phoenix dive boat before it capsized and sank Thursday off the coast of the Thai resort of Phuket. The maritime disaster has claimed 41 lives, including the woman who sent the clip to her family in China and at least one of her two children.

Thai rescue divers and a tourist police boat are seen during a search mission for missing passengers from a capsized tourist boat in the water off Phuket, Thailand, Saturday, July 7, 2018. A search resumed for some 23 missing tourists on a boat that sank during a storm off the southern resort island of Phuket. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Thai rescue divers and a tourist police boat are seen during a search mission for missing passengers from a capsized tourist boat in the water off Phuket, Thailand, Saturday, July 7, 2018. A search resumed for some 23 missing tourists on a boat that sank during a storm off the southern resort island of Phuket. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

"It's shaking violently, and I'm feeling very dizzy," Chen De Qiong, 47, wrote to her family's WeChat group just before the accident. "I want to go ashore immediately," she said in another message, adding that her 12-year-old son was feeling ill.

The boat lists hard to the right, sending a man tumbling across an aisle toward windows that look almost straight down on fast-moving white-capped waves. Another man catches him and appears to laugh nervously. A woman cries out. Someone else adjusts the child they are holding tightly in their lap.

Her family, who shared the video with The Associated Press, is now demanding "justice" from Thai authorities. Her sister, Chen Wei, a businesswoman from China's Chongqing province, said the disaster was caused by human error and could have been avoided, noting that passengers in the video were not wearing life vests.

The boat was carrying 105 people, including 93 tourists, most of them from China, when it capsized after it was hit by 5-meter (16-foot) waves. As of Sunday morning, 14 people were still missing.

Chen De Qiong, a doctor, arrived in Phuket on July 1 for a long-planned vacation with her son and 21-year-old daughter. Her husband, Xing Yong, who is also a doctor, stayed behind in China as he was busy with work.

Xing Yong, relative of a woman and her two children who drowned after a tourist boat capsized in Thailand's Phuket island wants justice for the passengers from a capsized tourist boat at Chalong pier in Phuket, Thailand, Saturday, July 7, 2018. Divers who entered the wreck of a tour boat that sank in a storm off the southern Thai resort island of Phuket described heart-breaking scenes, as the search resumed Saturday for some 23 mostly Chinese tourists still missing. (AP Photo/Eileen Ng)

Xing Yong, relative of a woman and her two children who drowned after a tourist boat capsized in Thailand's Phuket island wants justice for the passengers from a capsized tourist boat at Chalong pier in Phuket, Thailand, Saturday, July 7, 2018. Divers who entered the wreck of a tour boat that sank in a storm off the southern Thai resort island of Phuket described heart-breaking scenes, as the search resumed Saturday for some 23 mostly Chinese tourists still missing. (AP Photo/Eileen Ng)

"I can hear the voice of my daughter screaming," Xing Yong said Saturday while transiting at Kuala Lumpur airport on his way to Phuket, as he showed the video to an AP reporter. "You can see that nobody wore life jackets."

The body of the daughter, Xing Yu Jie, was recovered Friday.

Chinese Ambassador Lyu Jian, left, greets Chinese divers before sending them off to join a search mission for missing passengers from a capsized tourist boat in the water off Phuket, Thailand, Saturday, July 7, 2018. A search resumed for some 23 missing tourists on a boat that sank during a storm off the southern resort island of Phuket. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese Ambassador Lyu Jian, left, greets Chinese divers before sending them off to join a search mission for missing passengers from a capsized tourist boat in the water off Phuket, Thailand, Saturday, July 7, 2018. A search resumed for some 23 missing tourists on a boat that sank during a storm off the southern resort island of Phuket. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Once they arrived in Phuket on Saturday, Chen's sister and husband identified Chen's body at a hospital it had been taken to after being recovered earlier in the day. The son, Xing Hao Ran, was among the missing.

Chen Wei said the boat company ignored warnings of bad weather and failed to take adequate measures to ensure passenger safety. She said the video showed that glass windows in the boat cabin were sealed but they should have had latches so that they can be opened to allow passengers to swim out in an emergency.

Despite rough waves, the boat didn't stop and kept sailing, Chen Wei said.

"Three out of a family with four members gone. How would you feel about it? Which family can bear such a blow?" she said.

"There are loopholes everywhere that caused this tragedy," she said.

"I just want to seek justice for my family. This is not a natural disaster. This tragedy is man-made and could have been avoided," she added.

She said the vacation was planned as a celebration for her niece, who had just graduated from university, and her nephew, who is about to enter high school.

"A beautiful family gone like that, just like in a dream," a distraught Chen said.

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country’s mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.

Wang Xiangnan was driving Wednesday along the highway in Guangdong province, a vital economic hub in southern China. At around 2 a.m., Wang saw several vehicles moving in the opposite direction of the four-lane highway and a fellow driver soon informed him about the collapse, local media reported.

Reacting swiftly, Wang, a former soldier, positioned his truck to block the highway, effectively stopping dozens of vehicles from advancing into danger, Jiupai News quoted Wang as saying. Meanwhile, his wife got out of the truck to alert other drivers about the situation, it said.

“I didn’t think too much. I just wanted to stop the vehicles,” Wang told the Chinese news outlet.

Wang’s courageous actions not only garnered praise from Chinese social media users but also recognition from the China Worker Development Foundation.

The foundation announced Friday that in partnership with a car company it had awarded Wang 10,000 yuan ($1,414). A charity project linked to tech giant Alibaba Group Holding also gave an equal amount to Wang, newspaper Dahe Daily reported. Wang told the newspaper he would donate the money to the families of the collapse victims.

Local media also reported that another man had knelt down to prevent cars from proceeding on the highway.

The accident came after a month of heavy rains in Guangdong. Some of the 23 vehicles that plunged into the deep ravine burst in flames, sending up thick clouds of smoke.

About 30 people were hospitalized. On Saturday, one was discharged from the hospital, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The others were improving, but one remains in serious condition.

On Saturday, the Meizhou city government in Guangdong said in a statement that authorities would conduct citywide checks on expressways, railways and roads in mountainous areas. A team led by the provincial governor is investigating the cause of the collapse, Southcn.com reported.

The Chinese government had sent a vice premier to oversee recovery efforts and urged better safety measures following calls by President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s No. 2 official, Premier Li Qiang, to swiftly handle the tragedy.

The dispatch of Zhang Guoqing, who is also a member of one of the ruling Communist Party’s leading bodies, illustrates the concern over a possible public backlash over the disaster, the latest in a series of deadly infrastructure failures.

In this aerial photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers at the site of a collapsed section of a highway on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou, southern China's Guangdong Province on May 2, 2024. (Wang Ruiping/Xinhua via AP)

In this aerial photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers at the site of a collapsed section of a highway on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou, southern China's Guangdong Province on May 2, 2024. (Wang Ruiping/Xinhua via AP)

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