27 missing after Vietnamese boat sinks off China

BEIJING - Twenty-seven crew were missing after a Vietnam-registered fishing boat sank Thursday in the South China Sea off China’s Hainan island, state media said.

The Phu Tan capsized and sank in strong gales about 110 nautical miles (204 km) off Hainan’s Sanya city, the semi-official China News Service and other media quoted the South China Sea Salvage Bureau as saying.

The bureau dispatched a rescue ship as soon as it received an emergency call from Vietnamese maritime officials at around noon Thursday.

But the ship was not expected to reach the site of the sinking until about 9 p.m. (1300 GMT) because it was hampered by gales of up to 90 km per hour.

A tugboat travelling about 40 nautical miles (74 km) from the site was also ordered to assist with the rescue, the reports said.