Relatives gather as more bodies pulled from capsized ship in China

Jianli 

Distraught relatives rushed to the site of a capsized cruise ship in China Thursday seeking news of their loved ones, as rescue workers pulled dozens of bodies from the vessel. 

State broadcaster CCTV said 65 people were confirmed dead after the "Eastern Star"  overturned on the Yangtze river in a storm on Monday evening, with hundreds of elderly tourists on board. 

Just 14 people have been found alive, some hidden in air pockets, and rescue workers started cutting into the hull of the capsized ship overnight in a last-ditch attempt to find any other survivors trapped inside.

But fears are mounting that the disaster could be China's worst shipping accident in almost 70 years, as CCTV said on its microblog that some 39 dead bodies had been recovered Thursday.

Work on the perilous operation to cut into the hull was suspended early Thursday due to persistent bad weather that has hampered the rescue effort from the start, state media said.

Three large cranes were moved into place as workers prepared to lift the 76.5 metre long (250 feet) vessel later in another delicate and risky operation that risks destabilising the wreck and sending it further down the fast-flowing Yangtze.

"If after 72 hours no sign of life is detected, then the boat can be turned over," rescue commander Wang Zhigang told the official Xinhua news agency. 

The Eastern Star was carrying 456 people, most aged over 60, on a popular tourist route from the eastern city of Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing when it sank in a matter of seconds.

Weather officials said a small but fast-moving tornado was in the area at the time.

In case bodies have floated downstream, authorities have expanded the search area to include areas around Wuhan, 220 kilometres (136 miles) further along China's longest river.