20 sailors missing after ship collision in China

Two cargo ships collided today off the eastern Chinese coast, leaving 20 crew members missing, authorities said.

Efforts were under way to find the missing sailors, a marine police spokesman in Zhejiang province’s city of Taizhou said.

The official Xinhua News Agency said a 17,061-ton Chinese vessel collided with a Cambodian ship this morning, causing the 6,500-ton Cambodian vessel to sink immediately.

Nineteen of the missing sailors are Chinese while the remaining one is Indian, Xinhua said.

Xinhua also said local authorities have dispatched two search and rescue boats to the scene, and that the cause of the collision was under investigation.