BEIJING — Divers battled submerged debris and crews sliced into the upturned hull of a Chinese cruise liner Wednesday in a last-ditch hunt for survivors two days after the ship capsized with 456 passengers.
Just 14 people are known to have survived the disaster on the Yangtze River. Sixty-five bodies had been recovered by Thursday morning, leaving nearly 380 people unaccounted for — most of whom were retirement-age tourists on an 11-day cruise.
Under the river, a tumble of beds, tables, and chairs blocked access for divers inside the capsized Eastern Star. Some cabin doors also were locked, officials said, making the job of finding survivors and retrieving bodies harder.
Atop the hull, rescue teams began cutting through the metal in an attempt to find anyone who might be trapped in air pockets, the official People’s Daily reported.
Amid the search, questions emerged about whether the boat, which had four decks and a relatively shallow draft, had been sufficiently stable to withstand stormy weather. Also facing scrutiny was its captain, who continued the cruise as rain and winds intensified Monday night — even while other vessels dropped anchor.
The captain and his chief engineer were among the first to be rescued. Police are questioning them.
But the Chinese government, ever wary that public outrage could be turned against the authorities, attempted to control the narrative.
Officials discouraged local journalists from visiting the scene and tried to prevent foreign journalists from speaking to passengers’ relatives.
China’s Internet police issued warnings against those who sought to point fingers or spread malicious rumors online. Censors deleted critical comments on social media.
The government’s main focus, however, remained on the rescue effort, with nearly 2,000 workers, more than 100 boats, and 200 divers deployed in what could be China’s worst ship-related disaster in almost seven decades.
Helicopters and planes scoured the waters of the Yangtze, as the search area expanded to 135 miles downstream.
Transport Ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang said divers would continue searching for survivors and would try to move the vessel only when more salvage boats arrived.
‘‘Our number-one priority is to rescue people,’’ he said at a televised news conference. ‘‘As long as there is a glimmer of hope, we will not give up.’’
But Xu said strong currents, wind, and waves made the job harder. Sand and mud kicked up by the storm reduced visibility underwater.
Diver Zhang Hucheng said rescuers stayed underwater for an hour at a time.
‘‘Now we are completely relying on our hands to search,’’ he told the official Xinhua News Agency. ‘‘Even though we have strong torchlights, the river water is very muddy. We can’t see anything.’’
Two people, including a 65-year-old woman, were brought out alive from air pockets inside the vessel Tuesday, after rescuers apparently heard voices yelling for help.
Premier Li Keqiang, the Communist Party’s point man in disasters, was photographed bowing before two bodies covered in white shrouds, while holding an umbrella.
Li has also been photographed poring over maps, directing rescue workers, and meeting survivors to demonstrate, in the words of officials, how genuinely the government ‘‘cares for the people.’’
Some social media posts — later deleted by authorities — criticized the effort to control news reporting. Others complained that the commander of the Eastern Star had deserted his sinking ship.
On Tuesday, angry relatives of the passengers gathered at a government office in Shanghai — from where many of the passengers had booked the tour — and demanded more information, some briefly scuffling with officials, according to the Reuters news agency.
Many relatives were taken Wednesday to the rescue site at Jianli in central Hubei province and briefed by officials.
One of those aboard the ship was Gao Qianyue, who had just celebrated her third birthday and was taking her first boat trip with her newly retired grandparents.
‘‘She is only 3 years old, and now she is soaked in water — please save her first,’’ the girl’s mother cried, according to local media, before pointing at her husband. ‘‘The three people he is closest to — his mom, his dad, and his daughter — are all on the boat, with their life uncertain. What is he going to do? What should we do?’’