Team of experts sets off to study shipwrecks in Xisha

A team of archaeologists has embarked on a mission to excavate a shipwreck near Shanhu Island in the Xisha archipelago in the South China Sea, local authorities said on Monday.

The 25-strong team set off on a 45-day journey from Qinglan Port in Wenchang, Hainan province, on Sunday, according to a spokesman for the provincial Cultural Heritage Administration.

This is the second large-scale underwater archaeological mission in the South China Sea following the 2008 study of a vessel loaded with porcelain that sank more than 700 years ago off the Huaguang reef near the Xisha Islands.