Twenty-two people, including eight foreigners, have been confirmed dead after a tugboat capsized and sank in the Yangtze River in eastern China this week, state media reported today.

Rescuers found the body of the last missing person, Japanese engineer Masashi Kanasaki, in the tug's cockpit about 2pm local time today, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The boat was raised to the surface this morning, the Xinhua news agency reported, 40 hours after it sank with the owner and technicians aboard.

Among the 25 on board the newly-launched vessel were four Singaporeans, an Indonesian, a Malaysian and an Indian, it said. The three rescued were all Chinese.

The 30-metre craft sank while conducting tests of its turning capability.

Rescuers cut through the hull yesterday morning to save Wang Zhenkai. He was in stable condition at hospital today.

He was Kanasaki’s interpreter, Wang told Xinhua .

“Only the two of us were in the cockpit,” he said. “We had just finished the load test of the boat’s main engine when the vessel suddenly turned on its side. Water immediately flooded in.”

Wang survived by clinging to a hydraulic pump. He grabbed Kanaski, 60, but the current broke their grip when the boat started to sink.

- dpa