Collision toll rises

The death toll from the New Year's Eve ship collision on the Yangtze River near Shanghai has gone up to three, officials said yesterday.

One passenger remained missing, Xinhua quoted the officials as saying. Earlier reports said one passenger had died.

The news agency said initial investigations showed the Jianghan No 21 passenger ship, which was carrying 621 revellers and 69 crew to watch the millennium sunrise, ran into a container ship returning to port.

Investigators believed the accident near Liuhe, Jiangsu province, was due to thick fog and unrelated to the Y2K computer problem.

They said more deaths were prevented because rescue workers from the Nanjing Harbour Traffic Control Bureau steered the two vessels to ground on a nearby beach.

All surviving passengers and crew were picked up by rescuers within six hours of the accident, officials said. They urged cadres to learn from the accident.