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Chinese boat sinks with more than 400 aboard

In this photo released by China's XInhua News Agency, rescuers salvage the wreck after a tug boat sank in the Yangtze River in east China's Jiangsu Province, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. Rescuers cut through the bottom of an upended tugboat Friday to free a Chinese interpreter and searched for missing people, after the vessel capsized in the Yangtze River, the state-run Xinhua News Agency and officials said. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Shen Peng) In this photo released by China's XInhua News Agency, rescuers salvage the wreck after a tug boat sank in the Yangtze River in east China's Jiangsu Province, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. Rescuers cut through the bottom of an upended tugboat Friday to free a Chinese interpreter and searched for missing people, after the vessel capsized in the Yangtze River, the state-run Xinhua News Agency and officials said. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Shen Peng)

By Associated Press June 1, 2015 1 min read

BEIJING (AP) – A passenger ship carrying 444 people sank overnight in the Yangtze River in southern China, and seven people have been rescued, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

Further rescue work was under way, Xinhua said. The boat was going from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing when it sank at about 9:28 p.m. Monday night, the report said.

Xinhua said the boat was carrying 397 Chinese passengers, five travel agency employees and 42 crew members.