Twelve people died after a ferry sank in the Fuyi River in the central province of Hunan, and 20 were injured.

Shaoyang county government stated that 50 people were aboard the vessel when the accident occurred on 9 September, many of them students returning home to celebrate the mid-Autumn festival. Sources at Hunan Department of Transportation confirmed that the ferry had a maximum capacity of 14 people.

The vessel was reported to have run into some riverside iron cables used for sand dredging.

Three government officials have been removed from their posts as a result of the accident, reported Xinhua.