Kiang Ya
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The Kiang Ya was a Chinese passenger ship that sank in early December 1948. When it went down, at least over 2000, and according to other sources even 3920 people were killed. The event is considered to be the second largest civil shipping disaster after the sinking of the Doña Paz in 1987.
history
The coastal passenger ship was built in 1939 as the Hsing Ya Maru by the Harima Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Harima, Japan. The client was the Tokyo shipping company Toa Kaiun Kabushiki Kaisha. In 1947 Toa Kaiun sold the ship to the Chinese shipping company China Merchants Steam Navigation Company , which renamed the ship Kiang Ya and used it on Chinese coastal voyages from Shanghai.
In the early evening of December 3rd (other source 4th), the ship left the port of Shanghai on a voyage to Ningbo . The Kiang Ya was allowed to carry up to 1186 passengers , officially there were 2250 passengers on board. Due to the civil war that was prevailing at the time , large numbers of people fled from the advancing communist troops. Therefore, there were probably another 1200 additional passengers on the ship.
At the mouth of the Huangpu Jiang River , about 15 nautical miles after passing the Wosung breakwater, an explosion occurred in the aft ship , whereupon the Kiang Ya quickly sank in the relatively shallow water of the river section. The explosion made the ship's radio system unusable, which is why no help could be called from the ship. Only after several hours did other vehicles become aware of the sunken ship, the upper part of the superstructure of which was still sticking out of the water. Between 700 and 1000 people were rescued from other vehicles, between 2000 and 3920 people were killed.
The cause of the explosion that led to the ship's sinking has not yet been clarified, but it is believed that a Japanese sea mine laid out during World War II .
The wreck initially remained at the sinking site for several years. In October 1956 the ship was lifted, then repaired and from 1959 put back into service as Chiang Ya for the shipping company China People's Steam Navigation Company. In 1967 it was transferred to the Chinese state and renamed to Dong Fang Hong 8 . It was not until 1992 that the ship was finally deleted from the register.
literature
- Hocking, Charles: Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam: Including Sailing Ships and Ships of War Lost in Action, 1824-1962 . Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London 1990, ISBN 0-948130-68-7 , pp. 381/82 .
Web links
- Entry at wrecksite.eu (English)