Search for missing passengers continues as death toll rises to 18

Jianli, China

SCORES of divers cautiously searched a capsized ship in the Yangtze River on Wednesday for more than 400 missing people, many of them elderly, as the death toll in what could be China's worst shipping disaster in almost 70 years jumped to 18.

State television showed rescuers, some standing gingerly on the upturned hull of the Eastern Star cruise ship, 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 on board.