16 missing in ship collision

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.