Chinatopix/AP
This remarkable photo captures the grim reality setting in for the relatives of those aboard the Eastern Star cruiser, which capsized and sank Monday on China’s Yangtze River: the vanishing chance that any more people will be found alive.
In the foreground, dozens of paramilitary policemen dressed in white overalls wait to recover bodies after the ship was lifted by cranes. For most of the week, the boat sat in the water with just its hull exposed, as passengers’ families became increasingly desperate for answers from secretive government officials.
More than 100 bodies have been recovered, according to Chinese state media. There were only 14 survivors, a fraction of the 456 passengers, most of them elderly tourists.
