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Victims' bodies retrieved in SW China capsize

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-16 08:46

GUIYANG -- Rescuers had retrieved the remains of all the 10 people missing after a boat sank 40 days ago in southwest China's Guizhou Province, local authorities said Wednesday.

A total of 46 people on board were on the way to a fair held in a nearby village when the boat hit a reef and sank on March 3 on the Qingshui River in Jianhe County, according to the information office of the county.

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Rescuers pulled 36 people alive out of water, but the swift and muddy water made it difficult to find the other 10, including eight women and two children.

Rescuers and villagers recovered the first six bodies between March 17 and March 20. A passenger boat driver on April 12 found the other four bodies eight kilometers downstream, said the office.

The victims' families confirmed the four were among the missing.

Officials said overloading might have triggered the accident as the boat, which belongs to a registered tourist company, had a capacity of 18 people.

Police have detained boat owner Liu Zhongquan. The government has began compensating the victims' families.