Stories of survivors in Eastern Star disaster

Yu Zhengwei sits in the middle after saved. [Photo from web]

Yu Zhengwei, 44, vendor on the ship

They say cats have seven lives, and it seems some people are twice lucky, too. Yu Zhengwei, a vendor on the capsized ship Eastern Star, survived not only the cruise tragedy that claimed the lives of more than 400, but also the Wenchuan earthquake that left more than 80,000 dead in 2008.

Wang Shengcai, a villager from Fuxing village, Sanzhou county, Jianli county, which is about 20 km away from the accident site, found Yu lying on the bank of the river in the early morning on June 2.

Wang took Yu home and called the police.

According to Yu, his wife and he had a contract with the ship company to sell food and snacks on the vessel. They had worked on the ship for three trips before but this time the disaster struck.

At the night of the accident on June 1, which incidentally happened to be his 44 birthday, Yu went on the deck to collect his clothes he had left there to dry when heavy storm and rain hit the ship. Suddenly the vessel leaned sharply and he was thrown away.

Luckily, he was able to grab a life buoy and held on to it tightly until he was found seven hours later.

Yu went back to Chongqing while his two relatives stayed in Jianli for any news about his wife.