SEOUL: Rescuers are continuing their search for 16 missing crew members from a South Korean cargo vessel that sank after colliding with a Chinese freighter in heavy fog in waters off Northeast China, coast guard officials said yesterday in Seoul.

Chinese maritime authorities mobilized 22 boats and two helicopters for search-and-rescue operations, but no survivors or bodies have been found, said Yang Jong-ta, a South Korean coast guard official.

"Two life rafts were found but no one was aboard," another coast guard official who identified himself only by his family name, Suh, said early yesterday after talking to Chinese maritime officials.

Sixteen crew were on board the 3,800-ton "Golden Rose" when it sank at about 4 am on Saturday, about 60 kilometers southeast of Dalian, a coastal city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, Suh said.

They included one Indonesian, seven South Koreans and eight from Myanmar.

No one aboard the Chinese ship the 4,800-ton "JinSheng" was hurt. The crew returned safely to Dalian, where they reported the incident to Chinese authorities about seven hours after the collision, Yang said.

South Korea's coast guard sent a telegram to Chinese maritime authorities demanding a thorough investigation into why there was a delay in reporting the accident, and proposing a joint rescue operation, Yang said.

Chinese maritime authorities told South Korean coast guard officials that they dispatched a rescue team to the site immediately after learning of the accident, but rejected a call for a joint rescue operation.

The South Korean shipping company that manages the "Golden Rose", Bukwang shipping Co, reported the accident to South Korea's Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon, Suh said.

Chinese authorities blamed the collision on thick fog, he said.

The "Golden Rose" was loaded with steel and was heading from Liaoning to South Korea.

The container ship "JinSheng" was heading from Yantai to Dalian.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/14/2007 page2)