Rescuers have cut three more people from the wreckage of a capsized Chinese cruise ship as workers battle to find more than 400 people still missing after the boat sank in the storm-tossed Yangtze river.

A total of 15 people have so far been saved from the Dongfangzhixing, or “Eastern Star,” which went down late Monday on the popular tourist route from the eastern city of Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Six bodies have also been recovered from the wreckage, but hundreds more are still missing after the passenger ship apparently sank in a matter of seconds with 458 people on board, state media said on Tuesday.

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State broadcaster CCTV showed rescue workers carrying an elderly woman on a stretcher who was covering her own face. Xinhua said a 65-year-old woman was pulled from the boat on Tuesday afternoon and CCTV described her as in “good physical condition”.

Zhang Hui, a 43-year-old tour guide who was on the boat, described heavy rain flooding into passengers’ rooms on Monday, Xinhua said.

“Rain poured down on the right side of the boat, many rooms were flooded,” Zhang said, according to Xinhua. “Even if the windows were shut, water leaked through.”

An AFP photographer saw 15 ambulances driving away from the ship as they passed a road block set up about 13 kilometres from the main staging area for emergency crews.

Earlier, footage showed rescue workers tapping on the ship’s hull, part of which remained above water, with some holding welding gear and others ropes.

“Rescuers knocked on the ship and received responses,” the Hubei Daily said. “Three people were found alive.”

Update: Woman pulled out earlier around noon confirmed to be 65 years old, according to Xinhua #Yangtzeshipsinks pic.twitter.com/JU0pbb7kIX

— People’s Daily,China (@PDChina) June 2, 2015

CCTV said the 250-feet (76.5-metre) long vessel had floated three kilometres downriver after it capsized in the Jianli region of the central province of Hubei.

The cause of the sinking was not immediately clear. The captain and chief engineer, who are being questioned by authorities, both reportedly said it had been caught in a “cyclone” and sank in less than a minute.

Most passengers on board the cruise liner were aged over 60, according to a manifest cited by the Nanjing-based Oriental Guardian newspaper.

Teams of police worked to get small motorboats in the water to search for survivors in heavy rain, while other emergency personnel looked on from the shore.

State broadcaster CCTV also showed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang looking through binoculars and giving instructions at the scene.

There was heavy rain on the main dual-carriageway road heading south towards the Yangtze River as truckloads of army personal headed towards the disaster site, an AFP correspondent said.

-AAP