At least six people have been confirmed dead and hundreds are still missing after a cruise ship carrying 458 passengers capsized during a cyclone on the Yangtze River in central China.

Chinese authorities said on Tuesday that rescuers have recovered six bodies from the wreckage after "Eastern Star", a tourist boat rapidly overturned late Monday in China's Hubei province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Sources say rescue workers have so far managed to rescue only 14 people as fears are mounting over life of 438 people still missing.

Most of those on board were tourists travelling from the eastern city of Nanjing to Chongqing in southwest.

A massive rescue operation has been launched to recover the missing passengers. President Xi Jinping has ordered “all-out rescue efforts,” and urged people in the provinces of Hubei and Chongqing to take part in the search and rescue work.

Meanwhile, state broadcaster CCTV has showed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang peering through binoculars and giving instructions at the scene.

The rescue operation is being hampered by bad weather.

The captain and the chief engineer, who both survived, say the boat, which sent no emergency signal, was caught in a cyclone.

Some reports also indicate that seven people from the boat swam to shore to raise the alarm after it sank.

Back in January, a tugboat went down the river between the eastern cities of Jingjiang and Zhangjiagang, in Jiangsu province, killing a total of 22 people.

JR/KA