Just awful news this morning out of China where a tourist ferry traveling on the Yangtze River capsized yesterday in heavy rain and high winds, with reports of most of the over 400 passengers still missing and presumed trapped in the overturned vessel. Photos from the scene show a massive rescue effort underway:
13 rescued from capsized ship in Yangtze River in C China http://t.co/r7PeJkOwBy pic.twitter.com/BmAcRZ6YL7
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) June 2, 2015
Rescuers continued searching a capsized ship on the Yangtze River with hundreds aboard http://t.co/WE75jbDKci pic.twitter.com/1l8kkh938U
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 2, 2015
Hundreds still missing after cruise ship sinks on Yangtze River in China. http://t.co/kFcwTlWDVj pic.twitter.com/txE0kI0heB
— NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) June 2, 2015
Calls for help still heard from capsized passenger ship in Yangtze River, 13 people rescued so far: rescuers pic.twitter.com/t9fsPwbio9
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) June 2, 2015
The Washington Post reports that it was a state-owned enterprise that arranged the tour:
Most of the passengers were between 50 and 80 years old and were traveling as part of a tour arranged by the state-owned Shanghai Xiehe Travel Agency. The youngest was only three, according to Xinhua.
Horrific.
It will be interesting to see if any of the many verified Tweeters who breathlessly criticized America’s infrastructure issues after the derailment of an Amtrak train near Philadelphia earlier this month have anything to say about what happened in China. Some examples:
Why can't America have great trains? http://t.co/YKoc0N5osO While U.S. funds Amtrak for $1.4B/yr, China spending $128B this year on rail.
— Craig Trudell (@crtrud) May 24, 2015
Recommended
Wonder what China thinks of this. Our report on dismal state of rail safety in U.S.: http://t.co/2UG2sGefWl
— Somini Sengupta? (@SominiSengupta) May 19, 2015
Yes, let’s talk some more about “safety.”
After the #Amtrak crash, Chinese web users sarcastically asked how a 'democratic train' could derail. http://t.co/BlPEtwGhg2
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) May 14, 2015
Oh really? How can a ferry run by a centrally planned utopia sink?
Sad fact: 100 mph too fast for #Amtrak trains. Eurorail, China rail officials must be shaking their heads. http://t.co/gSzFMNSzQk
— Jeff Stein (@SpyTalker) May 13, 2015
Congress debates whether 2spend $1.1B or $1.4B on Amtrak. China invests $128 billion in railway construction in 2015.http://t.co/AMZ9Ywt7ti
— Bill Ritter (@billritter7) May 13, 2015
U.S. funding for Amtrak: $1.4 billion per year.
China's funding for railroads: $128 billion this year.http://t.co/PXAgOWiSEZ
— Jeremy Olshan (@jolshan) May 13, 2015
https://twitter.com/jchaltiwanger/status/598499496029515776
US set to spend $1.4 billion or less to fund #Amtrak. China set to spend $128 billion this year on rail. http://t.co/MGtI1RyVgU
— Brett Zongker ⚾️ (@BrettZongker) May 13, 2015
US spends $1.4B/yr on Amtrak. China spends $128B/yr on trains. How many more crashes before we start investestng in our infrastructure?
— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) May 13, 2015
The high speed train I was on in China? No joke! I love @Amtrak. My dad worked there 25 years. But that ain’t high speed rail
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) March 6, 2015
https://twitter.com/MattSchiavenza/status/567834038712569856
.@Amtrak MT @PDChina China's highspeed rails carried 214 billion passenger-km,2013, more than rest of world combined pic.twitter.com/3OzY7QCqqp
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) December 19, 2014
China rail > Amtrak https://t.co/QtrgKyq1z1
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) December 4, 2014
A little rain causes a 45 min delay? No wonder China is winning the transportation game. @amtrak
— halah (@_halah) November 26, 2013
Yeah, right. Define “winning” for us, will you please?
Editor’s note: The original title of this post read “away” instead of “await.” We apologize for the error.
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Related:
Amtrak’s crumbling infrastructure strikes Jeff Jarvis
Report: ‘Human errors,’ not infrastructure, to blame for Amtrak derailment
‘Classic case’: Larry Elder diagnoses real problem for ‘lefties’ calling for more Amtrak funding
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