State television showed rescuers, some standing gingerly on the upturned hull of the Eastern Star, and scores of divers working through the night.

Only 14 people, including the ship`s captain, have been found alive since the ship capsized in a freak tornado on Monday night with 456 people on board. Just 19 bodies have been recovered.

Rescuers have not slackened off, even though about 200 divers face difficulties such as cabin doors blocked by tables and beds. There is also the fear that rashly cutting holes in the hull could burst air pockets keeping people alive.

"Although there`s lots of work to do, saving people is still being put first," Transport Ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang told reporters.

State television showed a rain-soaked Premier Li Keqiang, who is on the scene overseeing rescue efforts, bowing in respect to two bodies laid out on the deck of a boat covered in sheets.

"Life is greater than the heavens, and the burden on your shoulders is massive," Li told a group of military divers, the government said in a statement.

But some relatives were already bracing themselves for the worst.

"Yesterday I still had some hope. The boat is big and the water hadn`t gone all the way in. Now, it`s been more that 40 hours. I ask you, what do I have left?" said Wang Feng, a 35-year-old wedding photographer whose father was on the ship.

The ship was on an 11-day voyage upstream from the city of Nanjing, near Shanghai, to Chongqing.

While the People`s Daily said the ship passed inspections by authorities in Chongqing last month, in 2013 it was investigated and held by authorities due to defects, according to documents from a local maritime watchdog.

The Nanjing Maritime Safety Administration investigated Eastern Star as part of a safety campaign into passenger ferries and tour boats and held the ship along with five other vessels, according to three documents on the bureau`s website.

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