Hubei officials punish salvage company over drowning incident

Officials in Hubei province have punished the manager of a salvage company over an accident in which three college students drowned rescuing teenagers from the Yangtze river, but have said they have found no significant wrong doing, the South China Morning Post reported. The Jingzhou city government said the manager had been put under police detention for 15 days and fined US$146.48 for extorting cigarettes and bottled water from Yangtze University, where the students attended, but denied that he had demanded US$1,757.81 to recover each body. The accident has caused an uproar in the Chinese media and on internet forums in recent weeks as it was thought two boats from the salvage company were close to the university students when they threw themselves into the water. Those boats were later revealed to be fishing craft. Central China Television has also critized the Jingzhou city government for lack of river safety services, pointing out that even when police and firefighters arrived on the scene they had to use a salvage company to recover the bodies.