DHAKA: Eighteen people are now confirmed to have died and 14 have been rescued from capsized ship in the Yangtze River of China.

The Eastern Star, with 456 mostly elderly people on board, overturned in bad weather on Monday night.

Hopes are fading of any more survivors being found inside a cruise ship, reports the BBC.

However, some had been trapped in air pockets inside the hull and over 400 people still missing.

Officials say they will keep looking for survivors, but it could be China’s worst maritime disaster in decades.

“As long as there's even a little hope, we will give it 100 percent and will absolutely not give up,” Transport Minister Yang Chuantang said on Tuesday. But he said rescuers were in “a race against time”.

Rescue workers stayed at the ship through the night to search for survivors, despite poor weather.

The Eastern Star overturned at about 21:30 on Monday evening (13:30 GMT) in the Damazhou section of the Yangtze. It did not send an emergency signal.

The captain - who survived and is now in police custody along with the chief engineer - said it was caught in a cyclone and went down in minutes.

BDST: 1044 HRS, JUNE 03, 2015
BD/