A boat loaded with sightseers sank during a heavy rainstorm on a reservoir in eastern China, and rescue crews recovered one body and were searching for 43 missing, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
The boat, buffeted by strong winds, capsized at around 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Tuesday in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Henan province, plunging 69 people into the water, it said.
“Local authorities immediately organized rescue work, but by 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday 43 people were still missing,” it quoted Hao Qingnen, a Jiyuan city official, as saying. More than 20 had been rescued and one body was found, it said.
The reservoir floodgates had been opened to flush silt from the flood-prone river. Provincial tourism officials issued a ban on visits during the operation, Xinhua said.
The tourists were employees of Xinghua Fine Chemical Plant in Kaifeng city on a site survey, it said.