At 6:45am on 8 September, two men from Xuba town in Tongling used their own unlicensed wooden motor boat to ferry 38 farmers to their harvesting jobs in a nearby town. It capsized within 20 minutes of the start of the journey, about five metres from shore. All 40 people on board fell into the river. Among the 20 rescued, 16 were women.

By 6pm on 10 September, 19 bodies were found, 17 of whom were women above 45 years old. One person was still missing.

Mr Tang Guanjun, Director of the Yangtze River Administration, headed the rescue efforts. More than 90 vessels were involved in looking for the victims.