AFP, JIANLI, China: Relatives of passengers missing after a Chinese cruise ship capsized expressed agony and anger on Friday after an official admitted there is no hope of finding more survivors, while cranes slowly raised the vessel out of the water. Just 14 of the 456 people -- mostly tourists aged over sixty -- who were on board the "Eastern Star" when it overturned in a storm on Monday have been found alive. A total of 97 have been confirmed dead, as floating cranes on Friday began to hoist the vessel where bodies of the more than 340 missing may still be trapped.
Rescuers decided to overturn the ship "on the general judgement that there is no possibility of survival," Xu Chengguang, a transport ministry spokesman, told a press conference late on Thursday. He added Friday that the boat would be raised completely above the water's surface, allowing rescuers to search through it. Gao Rufu, whose 62-year-old sister is among the dead, told AFP: "I feel sad, so sad". The possible death toll of 442 would make the sinking on the Yangtze river China's worst shipping disaster in nearly 70 years. Reports citing witnesses said the boat overturned in under a minute, and weather officials said a freak tornado hit the area at the time. Rescuers used massive cranes Thursday night to right the Eastern Star at the site  of the disaster in Hubei province's Jianli county. Images from state broadcaster CCTV on Friday showed the ship upright but with much of it still submerged. Work waas proceeding to hoist it out of the water, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Lifting the 76.5 metre long (250 feet) and 2,200 tonne vessel is a delicate and risky operation that could destabilise the wreck. Photos on Friday showed oil slicks in several places near the ship and Xu said efforts were underway to contain the leakage. In signs of the grim task ahead, an AFP journalist saw what appeared to be a full body bag being loaded onto a small boat near the vessel as well as another two small craft also carrying what appeared to be full body bags. Information about the sinking and media access to the site have been tightly controlled, and any online criticism of the search operation quickly doused. Relatives of those on board clashed with police earlier this week, and angry scenes occurred at an official press conference in Jianli on Friday. "What we have received are the words, selected wisely, which are full of untruths," an elderly relative who sneaked into the briefing told reporters, before officials escorted her away.