Yangtze ship disaster

SOURCE

Imagine this: a four-tier tourist boat that is touring the Yangtze River, carrying 405 elderly Chinese tourists--including one three-year-old child--as well as five travel agency employees and 46 crew members. They're on the trip of a lifetime, when suddenly--disaster strikes. Out of nowhere, a cyclone appears and within seconds the boat is sinking. 11 people manage to escape by floating out of windows before the ship sinks. Another 3 people are later rescued from air pockets within the hull of the upturned ship, The Eastern Star.

As for the rest? They are feared to be dead. So far about 100 bodies have been recovered--some within the vessel and some, miles down the river.

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese government is being very non-forthcoming about releasing information to the relatives of those affected by this disaster--much to the frustration of the former.




So, to begin, here is what we know about The Eastern Star and its last, fateful voyage:

The country's domestic tourism industry, which has grown alongside its rising middle class wealth, now keeps dozens of boats afloat on the Yangtze's waters.

The Eastern Star was one of them.

An online advert offers a 13-day voyage from the eastern city of Nanjing, west against the current, to the inland megacity of Chongqing.

The ship is owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corporation, and passengers had booked their trip through a travel agency in Shanghai.

It is not yet confirmed whether that is the same itinerary that was being followed this time, but if it was, then those on board would have been on their way to the Three Gorges Dam, just a little further upstream from where the boat has now gone down.

Many of the passengers, according to Chinese state media, are over 50 years old and would have paid around $300 for a shared, economy class, cabin. That's still a lot of money for many - not far off China's average monthly wage - but nowadays quite within reach of the comparatively wealthy senior citizens with their pension funds and stock-market portfolios in the big eastern-seaboard cities of Shanghai and Nanjing.

No doubt for some of those on the Eastern Star it would have been the trip of a lifetime.

I have been following this story ever since it hit the news--for me that was late on the evening of June 1st when I was hanging out with a friend and I started to feel really strange and antsy and then looked at my BBC News Widget and saw the disaster had just happened.

I was surprised to see that this wasn't being discussed on ATS--and so decided to create this thread--because, from the start, I found the situation strange for various reasons:

• The Eastern Star was the only vessel affected by the sudden harsh weather conditions--possibly a cyclone (confirmed by meteorologists). According to eyewitnesses watching the vessel being lifted from the river, the roof appears to have been crushed.
  
  
• The vessel had previously been looked at in 2013 because of concerns for the vessel's integrity
  
  
• The vessel was carrying mostly elderly people
  
  
• A young boy was seen sobbing openly in the doorway of a home, saying something to the effect of: "Mom, Dad--I'm sorry--I was wrong. I shouldn't have let you go."
  
  
• No distress signal/S.O.S was sent by the vessel. It takes 2 1/2 hours for rescue crews to reach the scene after hearing cries for help coming from the river.
  
  
• The captain survived and has been taken into police custody.
  

Immediately, I was struck by a sinking feeling, wondering if this could have possibly been a planned event. The boy's comments especially resonated with me--it totally sounds like the boy had had a premonition of some sort/knew somehow that something bad might happen to the vessel his parents were going to be vacationing on.

Not only that, but the nature of the passengers--mainly well-off, old people--seemed suspect to me as well. My fiance even joked darkly, "So, whose fortune were they after?" And I can't help but wonder if maybe he has a point. Perhaps it has something to do with population control or eugenics. Or perhaps somebody just wanted somebody else dead.

"But it was weather!" --You're probably saying to yourself right now. And you're totally right. It was weather. But here is where I think things start to get a little bit interesting.

Okay, it's time to go out on a limb:

Now, we (the U.S.) have the capability to create weather in the form of clouds, rain, static electricity--and cyclones. I personally have seen all of these things being created in a glass terrarium during a special presentation in my 5th grade class by some lady who looked important who was presenting this to us in order to cultivate our interest in science. I witnessed this when I was 10--I'm 23 now. So, although it was small in scale, it looked very easy to create these things. Now, the weather created was pretty random in nature and wasn't targeted or pinpointed in the slightest. But, that was 13 years ago. A lot of things can change and improve in 13 years.

So, what if maybe China has that technological capability as well? What if it was some sort of targeted weather experiment? I understand that that probably sounds pretty kooky but, honestly, it really isn't. I don't know where you can find proof of our capability to manipulate weather--but if you look into the science of it you will see how very easy it truly is.

Now, I'm not saying that anybody has the capability to actually make a target and send a tornado there or something--but I AM saying that we have the capability to control/influence the weather through direct means. I know for a fact it is at least possible to do this in enclosed spaces--such as in a glass terrarium or in a closed room (think of that one artist who photographs literal clouds inside of rooms).

Therefore, is it really so much of a leap to say that perhaps TPTB can enact such change on a larger scale, currently? In a way, wouldn't this help to explain several recent strange disasters? I am leaning towards believing that yes, yes it certainly could. I believe we should be open to these possibilities.

I am interested in discussing this further--and I hope that you are, too, friends here on ATS.

I didn't know there were mostly elderly on board.

Can't even imagine what it must have been like for them to realize the boat was sinking and, being in-firmed and invalid to some extent, not be able to get out in time.

No wonder there were so few survivors.

I saw footage of a guy tapping on the overturned hull with a hammer as he listened and got a response. People trapped in the dark, water filled bubble of air in an overturned ship, hearing taping noises on the hull, longing for the rescue that may never come.

shivers

a reply to: rukia

I shared your spidey sense when it happened. The account of the young boy is a tad over melodramatic unless he happened to be a lot older, in keeping with having senior parents, imo. Otherwise it rings false. The meteorologists I heard mentioned "a little bit of turbulent weather in the area", but it was only the following day when they all agreed that it was a tornadic event.

Can it be nefarious in origin? I think it well could be, but unless someone 'fesses up we'll never know.

My condolences to all the families. May the dead rest in peace.

Who are we blaming today, HAARP, or CERN?

Maybe both?

Bad things happen, not everything is planned. Have you ever bought any of the ripped off electronics China produces?

And we're surprised when one of their "cruise" ships capsizes? Don't get me wrong, this is a tragedy. Nobody deserves to die, ever. But let's not swim into conspiracy waters just yet. Let's wait for more information to come out before we dive in.

a reply to: intrptr
Agreed--reminded me of Poseidon Adventure, almost.

a reply to: aboutface

Yeah, I think I might have said it wrong--when making the OP, I couldn't find the original quote from the boy that I'd seen. He was a young man (one with elderly parents)--and that was made clear in the article that I saw it in (also on BBC News). I know that I remember the quote pretty much verbatim--and so, I didn't try very hard to find it again--but I'm sure it's still up there somewhere if you want to find it. It was where they were initially talking about the relatives of the missing and then they talk about how one young man was even seen and heard sobbing in an open doorway or something like that.


a reply to: ScientificRailgun

I don't really know who the 'culprit' might be. I don't know enough about either of those two that you mentioned to say anything one way or the other. All I know is controlling the weather is reality. I don't know if it can be done on a large scale, as I said. All I know is that it (the weather) can be directly influenced at the very least within a closed environment.

I am familiar with comparative politics and so at least somewhat understand the situation in China. You are correct that this is just a horrible tragedy--because it is, regardless of how it happened or didn't happen. But because that information is probably never going to be released, we are basically going to be left with questions anyway. Questions that eerily parallel other recent unsolved disasters.

The situation itself just seems really, really odd--more-so than one would usually expect for such a scenario.

a reply to: rukia

I agree it's an odd situation. Sadly, we'll likely never know what really happened. China has a reputation for sugercoating disasters to allay blame from any possible governmental source, so if there is any suspicion to level on the government, we'll likely never know unless there is a whistleblower.

I doubt any foreign government or agency would intentionally capsize a ship full of helpless old people. Is there a passenger manifest that lists careers, or former careers? The one way I could see them taking the ship out is if there were someone of importance on the ship that they wanted to silence. Even then, though. Taking several hundred out with that person seems in bad form.

a reply to: ScientificRailgun

I hear you--but I disagree on what you said last. I think that plenty of people would intentionally get rid of helpless ('useless') old people. Eugenics is still alive and well--look at assisted living homes and the like. It's a very evil thing to believe, but evil people exist, unfortunately.

And taking out several hundred people along with the 'one' who might be targeted is definitely bad form but...it is just smart. It's called now nobody will know what we were really after--collateral damage.

I don't really know if 'why' it happened will ever be figured out. I don't think that it matters--it is what it is.

My concern mainly stems from the fact that only one vessel--The Eastern Star--was affected. That's what really singled it out in my mind. One would think that other vessels in the area would have at least had to deal with something. And that's why I started to think that perhaps this could involve weather manipulation. I've been suspecting that this might have something to do with some recent disasters for a while--ever since MH370/that boat with highschoolers going down in South Korea after that first blood moon. I guess I'm wondering if there could be a pattern--I'm wondering if weather weapons might actually exist, given what we know.

I'm also wondering if my tinfoil hat might be a bit tight lol

a reply to: rukia

Heh, I don't think it's really tinfoil to ponder on possible weather weapons. After all, it's said Nikola Tesla had a working earthquake machine as early as the 1800's.

It's possible, of course. There are military secrets and technology that exist today, that we likely won't know about for the next 30 years.

I think that plenty of people would intentionally get rid of helpless ('useless') old people.

a reply to: rukia

I see that you equate useless with old, as well. Thanks.

Hubby heard about this on NPR a full day before I saw anything about it in the MSM. What he heard was that family and other observers were being denied access to the site and people were being detained by the authorities just for taking pictures.

Granted, the scene of the accident needed to be kept clear for rescuers, and I did later read that some relatives had gotten past the barriers. I have no idea how forceful Chinese police can be versus US cops. Other captains on the river had turned back or tried to get to safety, whereas this captain decided to ride it out during a freakin' tornado in a vessel that had some previous safety issues.

The accident could be the result of some incredibly bad judgement, poor maintenance, or...there's more here than we're being told.

a reply to: donktheclown
You're very welcome, Mr. Salty-pants!

Actually, I said the opposite. I said that old people should be valued--you saw where I said I didn't like eugenics, right? You do know what that is, right?

Since you failed to comprehend what I wrote, previously, allow me to explain it to you: It's called looking at it from the perspective of putting oneself in another's shoes. I thought that that was obvious. But apparently not~

some people just like to be offended--and find reasons to be offended when there are none.
nice going

a reply to: Cheddarhead

Yeah, there's definitely more to it than we are being told. But that only opens up a whole other can of worms. China's super-shady to begin with so yeah our choices become like okay so was this just an accident or was this on purpose/etc.--?

But yeah, who in their right mind would decide to set sail if the weather sucks? which made me think that it must have really been something out of the blue--and then you can see where my mind went from there. But whether it's something as out-there as weather weapons or something just as simple as bad infrastructure/poor safety regulations--your guess is as good as mine