Vessels are stuck by ice in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, January 10, 2010. [Xinhua]

The most severe icing situation in the past 30 years in the coast off east China's Shandong Province continued to worsen amid cold snaps, oceanic officials said Sunday.

Sea ice appeared last week along the coastline of the Bohai Sea and northern Yellow Sea as cold fronts pushed the temperature down to minus 10 degrees Celsius, said Guo Kecai, deputy general engineer of the North China Sea Branch (NCSB) of the State Oceanic Administration.

The outer edge of the ice sheets in the Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bayand northern Yellow Sea extended 60 nautical miles, 15.5 nautical miles and 20 nautical miles, respectively, according to the NCSB.

With another cold front expected Monday, the sea ice along the coastline would further develop, experts said.

More than 200 fishing boats were frozen at a port in Dongying Village in the Jiaozhou Bay. Fishermen said the ice sheet could be20 cm to 30 cm thick.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2010)