Hundreds of Lives Lost In Sunken Ship in Yangtze River

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458 people aboard a Yangtze River cruise in bad weather lived out terrifying hours trapped inside the capsized ship Dongfangzhixing, or Eastern Star. At the time of this writing, only 14 have been rescued, and five bodies have been found so far. The ship, within its capacity and sporting appropriate safety equipment, sank so quickly after encountering a cyclone that rescuers worked feverishly to detect the sounds of living victims inside the sunken hull.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Transport, there were enough life jackets for all 458 passengers. The ministry confirms that the ship was not overloaded. Bad weather is making rescue efforts far more difficult and less successful than they might otherwise have been.

State media showed footage of rescuers in safety orange vests were waiting atop the inverted hull as one rescuer tapped on the hull with a hammer and listened for sounds of life.

The passenger ship, one of many servicing enthusiasts enjoying popular river cruises, was en route to Chongqing City in the southwestern region of the country from Nanjing in the eastern province. The chief engineer and captain of the ship, who were saved, reported that the cyclone quickly sunk the ship. The People's Daily reports that the ship sank in two minutes or less at 9:28pm local time on Monday morning.

Of the 458 victims, 47 were crew members and five were travel agency workers; the others were passengers, most of them elderly. The youngest passenger was three years old. Although it is not yet clear what other factors may have been involved in the catastrophe, the surviving crew members have been taken into custody for questioning.

Distraught relatives of passengers and crew members gathered in Shanghai, waiting for news. As the hours ticked by, some lost hope; others tried to stay optimistic.

49-year-old Huang Yan, a Shanghai accountant, told a reporter she thinks that both her husband and her father were on board. In tears, she explained she wasn't even sure of that because she had yet to see the manifest.

Yan shouted: "Why did the captain leave the ship while the passengers were still missing? We want the government to release the name list to see who was on the boat."

CNN reported that Yan Mao is waiting for his aunt, mother, and two cousins, but hadn't lost hope: "I am anxious to find them," he told CNN. "Of course I believe they are alive, otherwise I wouldn't go there."