As search team declared 14 people dead and rescued 14 others, the hopes of finding more survivors on the cruise ship, which capsized on China’s Yangtze River, are fading.
Officials said that they are looking for survivors, but added that the accident could be China’s worst maritime disaster in decades.
China’s Transport Minister Yang Chuantang said that they would not give up as long as there was hope, but admitted that the rescuers were racing against time.
The Eastern Star cruise ship, which was carrying 456 people on board, did not send out an emergency signal before capsizing in bad weather on Monday night.
The captain, who survived the accident, is presently in police custody along with the chief engineer.
China’s Xinhua state news agency said that the Meteorological Department had confirmed that a “sudden, strong and violent” storm hit the area at the time of the incident.
