The captain of a yacht involved in a fatal accident on Jiangsu's Taihu Lake bears the main responsibility for the deaths of four passengers, the Suzhou maritime safety administration said on Tuesday.

Feng Ke'er drove his yacht into the cable between a tugboat and cargo ship on April 4, killing four of his eight passengers, and injuring the rest. The four dead were college students between the ages of 19 and 22 years old.

Feng was later found to be operating under the influence of alcohol. Tests showed that he had 54 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood in his system at the time.

According to China's Road Traffic Safety Law, 20 mg per 100 ml of blood alcohol level is classified as drunk for driving a motor vehicle, but there are no regulations for operating a boat.

The captains of the two other vessels have been charged as secondary parties in the accident. All three captains were detained by police.

According to eyewitnesses, other than a safety helmet, there were no other visible markers attached to the cable when the yacht hit it. None of the passengers on the yacht were wearing life jackets.

Gong Yu, marketing manager for the Shanghai-based travel agency 54traveler, which organized the trip for the students from Shanghai's Jiao Tong University, said his travel agency was not responsible for the accident. The Suzhou maritime safety administration report "didn't mention us at all," Gong said. "But I assume it's possible for the government of Suzhou to charge us some money as compensation for the victim's families."

Huang Jianwei of the Shanghai maritime safety administration's department of navigation management said conspicuous signals such as red flags, life preservers or lights should always be attached to cables connecting two vessels to warn nearby ships.

"If this were in Shanghai, we would have sent an escort vessel to ensure the safety of the tugboat and the ship. Other safety measures would have been taken as well" Huang said. "The situation in Taihu, though, is pretty complicated because there are all sorts of vessels there, including ships used for aquaculture, tourism and transport."