It also means closure could be coming soon to hundreds of families.
By 8 a.m. Saturday (8 p.m. ET Friday), 331 bodies had been recovered, according to Chinese state media. There are 111 people still unaccounted for.
Of the 456 people on board, 14 survived. But rescuers have had no luck since Tuesday, when a 21-year-old sailor and 65-year-old woman were plucked from the water.
The chances of more miracles have dwindled with each passing day. And the salvage process has begun.
Scores of ships, thousands of soldiers involved
That process involved huge floating cranes that set up alongside the overturned river cruise ship, dropped cables and hooks into the water, rolled the ship upright and raised it to the surface. About 50 divers took part overnight Thursday by tying slings around the 2,200-ton vessel, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
State-run CCTV News tweeted pictures of the Eastern Star after this happened Friday. Parts of its top level looked smashed, but the other levels appeared largely intact. By draining the ship, the idea is that it could again float on its own.
Meanwhile, rescuers continue their work. After going through the submerged, capsized ship for three days, they`ll now theoretically be able to walk its decks and open spaces.
The idea is to go cabin by cabin, looking for people who may have, by chance, survived in a cranny inside -- and for the many who most certainly did not. It`s all part of a huge operation involving nearly 150 other ships, 59 machines, over 3,400 Chinese troops and 1,700 paramilitary personnel, Xinhua said.
In addition to the human toll, there`s an environmental toll from oil leaked into the Yangtze River, Transport Ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang said.
One man`s heavy grief
Jian was desperate to know what happened to his mother, father, aunt and uncle, who were sailing on the 11-day cruise from Nanjing to Chongqing.
So the man, who asked that his last name not be published, joined dozens of others missing their loved ones in Jianli County to wait for answers. The nation is sharing their grief; for China, the accident is a national tragedy.
But Jian has not been willing to just sit and wait. He found the ship on a map and hired a motorcycle driver to take him to the riverside to get as close to the vessel as possible.
He arrived at a muddy path along the Yangtze.
"When I was slogging through the ankle-high muddy path along the Yangtze River, all of a sudden I remembered a similar path where my dad took me to fish when I was a kid," he said. "I immediately took my cell phone out, dialed my dad`s number again and again, but there was no answer."
"I couldn`t see the ship. But I was so close to him. I just wanted to be closer."
Jian says he accepts the fact that his loved ones have died.
"It was almost a sure thing that nobody was alive," he said after seeing the waters.
Anger at government
Some family members have been angry with the government for not doing enough to save their loved ones from the river.
Jian is among those who haven`t been satisfied with the response, but he remains calm.
On Thursday, he joined other family members and locals who gathered in Jianli`s town square for a somber candlelight vigil in honor of the hundreds of people presumed dead.
Family members say they have been giving blood samples to provide the DNA necessary for identifying the bodies pulled from the wreckage.
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