Four people are missing after a fishing boat carrying eight people caught fire early on Thursday off China's eastern coast, the frontier defence authority said.

The boat, registered in the eastern Zhejiang Province, was engulfed in flames at around 1:00 am at 28 degrees north and 121 degrees east, it said.

The eight fishermen on board abandoned the boat and fired emergency flares.

Rescuers found four of them on a liferaft and sent them to the nearest wharf in Shitang township of Wenling City at 7:00 am.

The search is continuing for the other four.

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2007)