Seventeen people are still missing - with little hope of survival.

Zeng Chaoqun, a Yangjiang police officer, said all the passengers aboard were local villagers transporting their vegetables to sell in the city's market.

By 11:30 am, 21 of the passengers had been rescued from the cold river water.

Both the city government and local people spared no effort to help the casualties, Zeng said in a telephone interview.

The rescue started immediately after the accident was reported. Many police officers and soldiers dived into the water to search for the victims. More than 20 boats were arranged by the government to help the search.

Zeng added a leakage in the boat may be the main cause of the accident.

The 14.7-metre long and 2.77-metre-wide boat has no licence or certificate. The owner of the boat, Lin Zhanqun, has been detained by the police.

Meanwhile in Lianyungang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, the entire crew of a ship had been rescued in high wind with just 20 minutes to spare, as their vessel sank on Monday in the Yellow Sea.

The Maritime Affairs Bureau of Lianyungang has sent a team to Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province, where the ship was registered, to investigate the accident involving 23 seamen on Navigation No 6, a 28-year-old cargo ship.

The ship was travelling from Tianjin to Fuzhou when water flooded the hold around 7:10 am on Monday, according to Lu Jianxin, deputy manager of Qingdao Huanyu Shipping Affairs Co Ltd, the owner of the ship. The hold contained 5,800 tons of coal.

The ship's crew attempted to stop the water level inside the hold from rising by casting anchor.

However, even the anchor could not fix the ship due to a force 9 wind that day.

At 11 am, a convoy ship - Haifayun No 5 - sent by the Maritime Affairs Bureau of Lianyungang to escort the stranded vessel, had to turn back due to the strong winds.

By 4 pm, the ship began to capsize as increasingly more water poured in.

At 5:10 pm, Haifayun No 5, on its second attempt, arrived at the scene and managed to pick up the crew, only 20 minutes before the ship sank.

Last year, after purchasing the vessel from a company in East China's Fujian Province, the company docked it for repairs after only a few months' navigation.

Following the repairs, the old ship made its first navigation on November 23.

The accident occurred on its second voyage.

(China Daily December 21, 2001)