(xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-01 15:30

YINCHUAN - Rescuers have retrieved four bodies believed to be among the six people who went missing after a home-made boat capsized in the Yellow River in northwest China a week ago, local authorities said on Monday.

The boat, unregistered and made of steel, was overloaded with 16 villagers and seven tons of corn when it sank in the torrential river on September 23 in the Yingshuiqiao Township, Zhongwei City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said Li Junyi, deputy secretary-general of the Zhongwei municipal government.

Among the 16 people from the Matou Village who had harvested the corn from their fields on the river beach, 10 were rescued and six others went missing, Li said.

Three bodied were found on Sunday and confirmed to be among the six missing people, Li said.

Rescuers recovered a fourth body on Monday morning, which is yet to be identified, he said.

Rescuers are still searching for the other missing people, he added.

The 5,464 kilometer-long Yellow River, China's second longest, originates on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, winds its way through nine provinces and autonomous regions, and empties into the Bohai Sea in north China.