China mulls bridge on river after ferry sinking

CHANGSHA - Authorities in central China's Hunan Province plan to build a bridge across a river where 12 people drowned Friday when an overloaded ferry sank, a local official said Monday.

The decision to build a bridge across the Fuyi River was made a day after the deadly accident by Hunan provincial officials who came to the county of Shaoyang to direct the rescue operations, said Duan Shaoxing, vice head of the county government.

Duan said the construction is estimated to cost 14 million yuan ($2.24 million). The funding will come from three departments of the provincial government, he added.

Local residents said the section of the river was prone to accidents, and they have urged the government to build a bridge for quite some time.

In the latest accident, a ferry boat sank on Friday afternoon after its propellers were tangled by iron cables used for sand mining dredgers, local officials said. The boat, designed to carry 14 people at most, was loaded with 50, who were mostly students from two primary and middle schools heading home for the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.

Of the survivors, 20 were injured. Duan said all the families have agreed to be compensated of 200,000 yuan by the government for each person who died in the accident.

Local residents blamed lax safety supervision and rampant sand dredging for the accident.

"The ferries were commonly overloaded. There was no supervision at all and no one cared enough to warn ferry captains not to overload passengers," said a villager surnamed Rong.

Residents also complained about the excessive sand dredging that had damaged the riverbank and blocked the waterway.

A man surnamed Li said villagers had made repeated complaints to the government about the dredging but there was no response.

In the wake of the accident, the provincial authorities have ordered a thorough investigation and launched a province-wide safety check in the transportation sector.

Three local officials, including a deputy head of Shaoyang County, have been sacked and two teachers who were responsible for escorting children to the ferry ride on the day were also suspended from the posts, the authorities said.