Photos: Inside China’s capsized cruise ship

A picture is seen on the wall of a crew member dormitory inside the capsized Eastern Star cruise ship.(Reuters/China Daily)

Eleven days after a cruise ship capsized on China’s Yangtze River, killing at least 434 people, the country is still grappling with angry relatives and outraged citizens. Today, officials announced that a 60-member team is being formed to investigate the accident, which has left many questions unanswered.

Focus has turned to commemorating the victims, many of them elderly parents and grandparents, and compensating families. Mourners have been praying and burning incense and paper money along the Yangtze for the past week and a half—in Chinese funeral tradition, the first seven days is the most important period for honoring the deceased.

Rescuers have been working to recover bodies carefully from the ship, which was turned upright and lifted from the water last Friday, in hopes of returning them in a respectful state to their relatives. Perhaps in hopes of alleviating anger, have released photos of those efforts inside the ship.

Rescue workers stand on the river bank as the capsized cruise ship Eastern Star is pulled out of the Yangtze River.(Reuters/China Daily)

The control room of the Eastern Star cruise ship, which capsized on June 7th.(Reuters/China Daily)

Clocks at the passengers’ hall are seen inside the Eastern Star cruise ship, which capsized on the Jianli section of the Yangtze River, Hubei province, June 7, 2015. The Chinese characters on top of the clocks read “Voyage Schedule”, “Arrival” and “Departure.”(Reuters/China Daily)

A control panel is seen inside the Eastern Star cruise ship.(Reuters/China Daily.)

Hand marks, reportedly left by the rescue workers, are seen inside the Eastern Star cruise ship.(Reuters/China Daily)

Rescue workers search the capsized cruise ship.(Reuters/China Daily)

Searchers stand and bow to another body is found.

1st glimpse at China ship as it emerges from river

Rescue workers prepare to approach the tourist ship Eastern Star after cranes righted the ship

Four days after the Eastern Star capsized along the Yangtze River with more than 450 people aboard, the cabins of the cruise ship emerged in full view for the first time Friday.

In a moment awaited by rescuers and families of the victims, cranes on barges pulled the iron chains attached to the overturned vessel and lifted upright the multi-decked, 251-foot (77-meter) -long ship.

It revealed top-deck cabins with smashed blue roofs jutting out of the river. Much of the water had to be drained from the wreckage and part of it is still submerged.

From the embankment of the Yangtze and nearby boats and barges, rescue workers in multi-color uniforms watched intently as the ship was being turned upright. After days and nights of diving under the wreckage and drilling holes into the hull in search of the missing, turning the ship back up will make the work easier.

The weather was sunny following drizzle and winds that hampered the operation for most of the week, and the waters appeared calm.

Victoria, Century Cruises assure their Yangtze vessels are safe

The Victoria Sophia was not far from the Eastern Star when the latter ship capsized on the Yangtze.

As search and rescue efforts continued Tuesday following the capsizing of the Chinese river cruise vessel Eastern Star on the Yangtze River, two of the largest Yangtze River cruise operators serving the U.S. market said that their passengers and vessels are safe.

“Despite heavy rain and wind, Victoria Cruises’ fleet had not experienced out-of-the-ordinary navigation issues. The Victoria Sophia, which was downstream from the Eastern Star in nearby Wuhan when the tragedy occurred, is sailing on schedule and reports manageable conditions,” New York-based Victoria Cruises said in a statement.

While it’s too early to determine exactly what went wrong on the Eastern Star, Victoria Cruises executives said the tragedy underscores the need for higher safety and inspection standards on the Yangtze.

The Eastern Star was a much smaller vessel in comparison to most of the Victoria ships, yet it was carrying nearly double the number of passengers that Victoria vessels carry, according to Victoria Cruises.

The Eastern Star, at 2,200 gross tons, was carrying 405 passengers, five travel agents and 47 crew members for a total of 457 people aboard when it capsized. By comparison, the smallest vessel in the Victoria fleet is the 198-passenger Victoria Grace, which is 3,868 gross tons. The largest ship in the Victoria fleet is the 378-passenger Victoria Jenna, which measures 10,680 gross tons.

Chinese river cruise line Century Cruises, which provides charters for several U.S. river cruise companies and tour operators including Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection and Avalon Waterways, said that its vessels do not normally sail on the stretch of river where the Eastern Star capsized.

Century Cruises vessels normally travel between Chongqing and Yichang, and the capsizing took place further downstream near in China’s Hubei Province, noted Richard Xie, director of marketing and sales for Century.

Century also said that its vessels have a much larger gross tonnage-to-passenger ratio than the Eastern Star. The smallest vessel in the Century fleet is the 186-passenger Century Star at 4,255 gross tons. And the two largest vessels in the fleet, the 398-passenger Century Legend and Century Paragon, each measure 12,516 gross tons.

“Our hearts go out to the families of the Chinese passengers [onboard the Eastern Star] as we pray for their safe rescue,” James Pi, chairman of Victoria Cruises, said in a statement. Rescue attempts are underway with many pitching in to support emergency workers, including local fishing boats.

“This is just too sad,” said Xie. “We feel sorry for those who have not been rescued and make the best wish to all of them.”