By Ralph Ellis, Jethro Mullen and Steven Jiang, CNN

Updated 3:19 PM ET, Tue June 2, 2015

Story highlights

Tornado hit part of Yangtze River where ship capsized, China Meteorological Center says
Survivor says he barely had time to grab a life jacket before escaping ship, report says
Authorities confirm 14 survivors and seven deaths

Jianli County, China (CNN)Most of the passengers on the Eastern Star cruise ship had gone to bed. A violent storm struck and rain pounded the windows with such force that water seeped into the cabins, survivor Zhang Hui told Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.

The ship began tilting, Zhang told the agency, reaching an angle of 45 degrees at one point. Small bottles rolled off the table in his cabin.

“Looks like we are in trouble,” he remembers telling a colleague.

When the ship with more than 458 people aboard overturned late Monday, he said, it happened so quickly he only had 30 seconds to grab a life jacket and get out of his cabin. He went into the dark and choppy waters of the Yangtze River during the middle of the storm, later confirmed to be a tornado. Continue reading Survivor: Chinese cruise ship capsized quickly during violent storm →