A passenger ship carrying more than 400 people sank Monday night in the Hubei section of China's Yangtze River.

The ship, named Dongfangzhixing (Eastern Star), sank at around 9:28 p.m. in the Jianli (Hubei Province) section of the Yangtze River, according to the Yangtze River Navigation Administration.

It was heading from Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, to southwest China's Chongqing city.

Sources said that there were 397 Chinese passengers, five travel agency workers and 42 crew members aboard.

Seven people have been rescued.

Rescue work is under way.