Hopes are fading of any more survivors being found inside a cruise ship which capsized on China's Yangtze River.

The Eastern Star, with 456 mostly elderly people on board, overturned in bad weather on Monday night.

Eighteen people are now confirmed to have died, state media says, and 14 have been rescued - some had been trapped in air pockets inside the hull.

Officials say they will keep looking for survivors, but it could be China's worst boat disaster in decades.

"As long as there's even a little hope, we will give it 100% and will absolutely not give up," Transport Minister Yang Chuantang said, before adding that rescuers were in "a race against time".

Premier Li Keqiang urged divers to keep searching the ship in an "overnight battle" to find more survivors after at least two remarkable rescues on Tuesday, including one of a 65-year-old woman.

'It was tilting very badly'

Zhang Hui, 43, was rescued on Tuesday after floating for 10 hours clinging to a life jacket.

He was in his room when a storm hit and he felt the boat tilt. "It was tilting very badly, maybe at around a 45-degree angle," he told the Xinhua state news agency.

He grabbed a life jacket and floated to the nearest window as the boat began to capsize "incredibly fast".

He spent the night in the river, struggling to keep afloat. "I told myself, I just needed to hold on and everything would be okay," he said.

He eventually made it ashore as dawn broke and received help at a nearby jetty.

The Eastern Star overturned on Monday evening in the Damazhou section of the Yangtze. It did not send an emergency signal.

The captain - who survived and is now in police custody along with the chief engineer - said the vessel had been caught in a cyclone.

Chinese media said meteorologists had confirmed that a "sudden, strong and violent" storm hit the area.

But the BBC's Jo Floto in Beijing says questions are being asked about how bad weather could destroy such a large boat in seconds while apparently not affecting any other vessels on the river.

Rescuers had on Tuesday heard voices coming from the hull of the ship, but there were no such reports on Wednesday morning.

State Broadcaster China Central Television said that by late Wednesday morning, 18 bodies had been recovered in Yueyang, Hunan province, some 50km (30 miles) away.

Relatives of those on board have expressed anger at a lack of official information. Photo : Reuters.

Premier Li Keqiang visited survivors of the tragedy at a nearby hospital on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters.

Engineers are reportedly looking into cutting open the hull of the upturned vessel for better access but bad weather is hampering rescue efforts.

Premier Li Keqiang has demanded "transparent updates" on the operation but relatives of some of those on board have expressed anger at what they say is a lack of information from officials.

The Eastern Star

- The 76m-long, 2,200 tonne ship was named Dongfangzhixing in Chinese

- It was carrying 405 passengers - mostly elderly tourists but one three-year-old - as well as five travel agency employees and 46 crew members.

- The ship is owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corporation, and passengers had booked their trip through a travel agency in Shanghai.

- The cruise left the eastern city of Nanjing in April and was travelling to Chongqing in the south-west via the Three Gorges - a journey of at least 1,500km (930 miles).