Three fishermen were confirmed dead and another 26 missing from more than ten maritime disasters caused by tropical storm Goni in south Chinese island province of Hainan, local officials said Sunday.
Two fishermen were killed and another three missing when their fishing boat "Qiongdanzhou 00301" was wrecked at the Yangpu Port, while one fisherman died and another was missing after "Qiongdanzhou 52153" sank in the sea near Danzhou City, said Xu Zhuang, secretary general of the Hainan provincial government.
Four crew members on a Cambodian vessel were still missing off Dongfang City. Eleven fishermen lost contact with the control center after encountering Goni Friday at the Beibu Bay in the south of Guangxi Province.
Besides the 19 missing, another seven crew members on the freighter "Changxing 68" were missing at Qiongzhou Strait, said an official with the Hainan marine search and rescue center.
"The following 24 hours are very crucial for the rescue," Xu said.
More than 100 vessels have been deployed to comb through disaster scenes and helicopters are being used to locate the missing crewmen, he said.
Goni landed in south China' Guangdong Province Tuesday. It left China at 5 p.m. Sunday.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2009)
