Chinese authorities announced on Saturday that they have recovered up to 442 bodies from the capsized Eastern Star passenger ship. There were only 12 survivors, and not 14 as previously reported.

River Navigation Administrator Tang Guanjun clarified that there were only 12 survivors from the capsized ship and not 14 as earlier reported, according to Xinhua.net.

Like Us on Facebook

Government agencies have verified their data and confirmed that the number of passengers and crew on the capsized ship is actually 454.  Shanghai Daily reported that out of that total number, 46 are members of the crew and rest are passengers.   

Last week, members of the search and rescue team, along with the grieving relatives paid their respect to the deceased at the site of the tragedy. 

Tang said that DNA tests have confirmed the identities of the bodies and people now have custody of their dead relatives.  As of Saturday, 426 of the recovered bodies had been cremated.

On Monday, June 1, the Eastern Star passenger ship was sailing along the Yangtze River when a storm or tornado hit and caused the boat to capsize.   

The cruise ship was almost 20 years old.  It had a carrying capacity of up to 534 people.  Records indicate that it had just undergone repairs last year and was licensed to operate up to April 25, 2016.

The river administrator said that after the recovery of bodies has ended, the government will focus on finding out what really happened that caused the ship to capsize.

Among the survivors who were rescued is the Eastern Star's captain, who is said to be currently under police detention.  The grieving family members have submitted an online petition demanding that the death penalty be imposed on the captain, Channel News Asia reported. 

Many of the early survivors were able to get to safety before the ship capsized.  However, rescuers were delayed by the poor weather conditions at that time. When it became clear that there were no more living passengers trapped inside the ship, government rescuers turned their attention to recovering the bodies. The boat was turned upright by huge cranes to speed up the process of recovering the dead.

TagsEastern Star, eastern star sinking, Eastern Star death toll, ship sinks Yangtze river, Eastern Star Cruise Ship