Nine sailors are missing after two freighters collided in
Southeast China's Fujian Province on Wednesday morning,
authorities and rescuers said.
Twelve sailors were rescued from the Panama-registered freighter
which sank early on Wednesday morning near Ningde, Fujian. All of
the 21 sailors on the sunken freighter are Chinese, said a
spokesman with the Shanghai-based East Sea Salvage Bureau under the
Ministry of Communications.
Three sailors are being treated at hospital for serious
injuries, the spokesman said. Four rescue boats are searching the
area for the missing people.
The Panama-registered freighter "EPELGAIN" was loaded with
timber from Liberia on route to Zhangjiagang, east China's Jiangsu
Province when it sunk.
The crew of the other ship, the Chinese container ship "New
Lianyungang", rescued the sailors from the sunken vessel. There
have been no reports on the condition of the Chinese freighter.
(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2006)