CHENGDU: At least 28 people are confirmed to have drowned when an overloaded boat sunk in a river in Yuechi County in Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday.

As by press time last night, rescue workers had pulled 12 people to safety. Rescue team leaders revealed they had recovered the bodies of 28 people.

No accurate number of passengers on board the boat at the time it sunk in Youxi River is available.

But according to a survivor, at least 40 farmers were on the vessel.

"In the hope of finding more survivors, or recovering the bodies of more victims, the rescue team will keep searching," said Yuan Xianfeng, vice-mayor of Guang'an.

"They will also pay visits to houses in villages along the river to identify who may have taken the boat," he added.

The cause of the sinking was overloading, said Lin Shucheng, chief of the Sichuan Safety Supervision Administration.

Owned by Tang Yongsheng, a local farmer in Youxi Town who died in the incident, the boat was 9.57 metres long and 1.97 metres wide. It was only registered to carry a small number of passengers.

"When the incident took place, it had at least 40 people on board," said Wang Hua, a 31-year-old survivor from Liujiaba Village of Youxi Town.

Most passengers on the boat were farmers in villages along the Youxi River.

"Like me, they had gone to Youxi Town to buy chemical fertilizer and food in a fair there," Wang said.

"The boat was built eight years ago, and could not carry many passengers, and sank in the river after navigating about 200 metres from Youxi Town," he said.

Wang, who was not injured, was saved by a passing boat.

Four injured survivors are hospitalized in the Yuechi County Hospital and are receiving treatment.

"The four patients, including a 62-year-old man and a girl less than three years old, are out of danger," Tang Biao, deputy chief of the hospital, told China Daily.

Source: China Daily