At noon yesterday a barge hit rocks and capsized, dumping 900 tons of coal into the Yangtze River near Longmentan.

"When we arrived at Longmentan, we felt an impact on the bottom of the boat," Mr Han, captain of the boat, recalled. Shortly afterwards the crew heard a loud collision. Mr Han shouted that they had hit rocks and sent his men to check the bilges. They found water pouring in through three holes on the starboard side.

"We had to change direction and sail to starboard where the water was shallow," said the captain. But as water flooded in, the boat listed to the right and its cargo of coal started to fall into the river.

The boat floated for about another 250 meters before it hit the bottom and the captain was forced to abandon ship. The five crew members had no time to don life vests. "We climbed to the highest part of the boat because it was sinking fast. There was nowhere to stand and we ended up hanging on to the boat rail," said Mr Han.

43 year old boatman Gu Chang who happened to be sailing by was able to give each of the boatmen a life vest. Eventually he rescued them with the help of three other small boats.

The river accident management department dispatched a patrol to clear the shipping route and temporarily anchor the wreck to prevent it drifting. The salvage of the barge will start today (April 27) and should take about a week.

Cqnews.net was told by river management officials that the 900 tons of coal will have little effect on water quality.

(China.org.cn translated by Zhang Ming'ai, April 27, 2009)