Feeling in the dark: the difficult search for signs of life on the Eastern Star
Conditions on the Yangtze and the state of the ship set this disaster apart from others
The Eastern Star's rapid and complete submersion in a muddy waterway has slowed search efforts, making the recovery operation more difficult than those of other major shipping disasters, experts say.
Just 14 survivors have been rescued since the vessel went down on Monday night with 456 people on board.
In the MV Sewol disaster in South Korea last year more than 170 of the 476 passengers and crew made it out alive.
And of the 4,200 people on board the Costa Concordia, wrecked off the coast of Italy in 2012, only 32 died.
At first glance, the Eastern Star operation should be easier - the river cruiser was only about half the length of the Sewol and had a fraction of the number of cabins as the Costa Concordia.
The Eastern Star also capsized in China's biggest and busiest waterway, the Yangtze River, while the other two incidents occurred at sea.
But one big difference was that the Chinese ship capsized completely within minutes, submerging all cabins, while the Sewol and Costa Concordia leaned on their side and were partially above water for a long time.
