A total of 14 ships were dispatched to the site by the local government to search for the missing passengers, according to an official with the Maritime Safety Bureau under the Ministry of Communications.

At least three people were confirmed dead at press time, said the official who declined to be named.

The Fuzhou No 10 -- a passenger liner of the Yangtze River Three Gorges Shipping Co Ltd -- was sailing downstream near Longqiao Town, Fuling District, when it collided with a freighter going upstream at 7:55 am.

Rescuers plucked 12 people from the water and operations to save the other passengers are still under way.

Initial investigations indicated there were 35 passengers on board and some of them were middle school students on holiday, officials said.

Officials from the municipality have rushed to the scene along with rescue workers.

The freighter and its crew have been detained by the police, reported Xinhua.

Officials from the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), which is China's top work safety watchdog, said the number of traffic accidents including water traffic ones was on the rise, especially the case in past weeks.

There were 214 water traffic accidents reported to the work safety departments during the first four months with 134 people killed or missing, revealed SAWS statistics.

On Wednesday, there were two road accidents in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces that killed 32 people and injured 17, SAWS officials said.

(China Daily 19, 2003)