Eleven Chinese fishermen, whose boat capsized after a collision with a cargo ship from the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the East China Sea on Tuesday, had returned to Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province safely aboard a Chinese marine patrol vessel.

The fishing-boat named "Zhe Xiang Yu 23069", capsized in the East China Sea after having collided with a ROK cargo ship at around 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, and 16 fishermen on board escaped to their raft and were stranded there, said Geng Ning, an official with the the provincial marine administration Friday

"We were sleeping when our boat was struck, so we didn't have time to put on our clothes and we rushed to the raft. Our fishing-boat sank about half an hour later." said Cao Jinhui, a fisherman on board.

"Five of us were taken to the ROK cargo ship and the remaining ones got to another fishing-boat nearby, but we were extremely cold as we only had a few clothes on." Cao said.

Marine Patrol 11, the largest marine patrol ship of China, got the message about 8:00 p.m. Tuesday and tried its best to get the stranded fishermen aboard after a 15-hour sail at full speed, Geng Ning said.

The five fishermen rescued by the ROK cargo ship headed for the Republic of Korea to deal with the aftermath, and the eleven men, who arrived in Qingdao, would help with an investigation by the local marine administration, according to Geng.