Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in southwest China, leaving 9 dead and 1 missing

BEIJING AP Four boats capsized in a sudden storm on a river in southwestern China leaving nine dead and one missing state media stated Monday More than people fell into the Wu River when strong winds hit the scenic area in Guizhou province on Sunday afternoon state broadcaster CCTV explained Initial reports reported two tourist boats had capsized but CCTV and the official Xinhua News Agency explained Monday that four boats were involved It wasn t clear if any of the casualties were on the other two boats The boats capsized after a sudden rain and hail storm hit the Wu a tributary of the Yangtze China s longest river In one video shared by state media a man could be seen performing CPR on another person while one of the vessels drifted upside down Guizhou s mountains and rivers are a major tourism draw and plenty of Chinese are traveling during a five-day national holiday that ends Monday Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to find the missing and care for the injured Xinhua mentioned on Sunday Xi s administration has pushed to reduce the death toll in China s transportation sector but overloading poorly maintained vehicles and a lack of safety equipment have frustrated those efforts particularly during major holidays CCTV revealed two of the capsized boats each had about people on board and were not overloaded An eyewitness narrated state-owned Beijing News that the waters were deep but several people had managed to swim to safety However the storm had come suddenly and a thick mist obscured the surface of the river Source