Tributes to hundreds of boat tragedy victims

Nearby ships blared horns for three minutes and rescuers bowed in silence to honour more than 430 victims of the Yangtze River capsizing, as specialists began working on DNA samples from relatives to identify the dead.

The toll from last Monday’s overturning of the Eastern Star cruise ship rose to 431 dead with 11 people still missing, said Hu Kaihong, the vice director-general of the press bureau of the State Council Information Office.

Fourteen people survived, including three who were pulled by divers from the overturned hull on Tuesday.