Three Sailors Dead, Five Missing After Ships Collide on Yangtze River

A container ship operated by China’s largest shipping company capsized on Sunday night after colliding with a foreign-registered cargo liner on the Yangtze River, killing three Chinese sailors and leaving five missing, the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration reported Monday.

All 16 Chinese sailors on the Xinqisheng 69 rented by a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. Ltd. fell overboard after it hit the heavier Oceana, which is registered in Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean. No injuries or deaths were reported on the Oceana.

A signal from the AIS tracking device on the 165-meter container ship disappeared 30-minutes after the incident, which occurred around 11:30 p.m., data from vessel location provider Shipxy.com revealed.

Rescue footage posted by Beijing News showed that only one of the Chinese crew wore a life jacket and a lifeboat on the ship wasn’t used. The Xinqisheng 69 was carrying 650 containers.

It is the first major incident involving Shanghai Panasia Shipping Co. Ltd., the subsidiary of COSCO that manages the ship, according to a statement released by the company on Monday, adding the cause of the incident remains unclear.

China’s Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) issued a notice Monday calling for more vigilance to prevent similar incidents.

There have been 14 such incidents in China since August, resulting in 40 deaths, according to the MSA.

Contact reporter Lu Yutong (yutonglu@caixin.com)

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