17 still missing from East China Sea shipwreck, search continues

A total of 17 crew members of a Chinese fishing boat remained missing as of Sunday evening, more than one day after it capsized in the East China Sea following a collision with a Maltese cargo ship.

Seven vessels of the Chinese Navy's Donghai Fleet have combed the waters with an area of 1,200 square nautical miles as of 5 p.m. Sunday but found no one, said the source with the navy.

The accident happened in the waters about 80 nautical miles away from Ningbo port of east China's Zhejiang Province early Saturday morning.

An initial investigation showed that the fishing boat from Shandong Province, with 19 on board, was suspectedly hit by the Maltese ship.

Two crew members have been saved.

The navy and civilian search teams found floating life jackets and mattresses though they did not find any crew member, Li Qingyin, captain of the Quanzhou, one of the navy vessels in the search, said over the phone.

They will expand the search perimeter in next days, he said. Endi