17 missing after Vietnamese cargo ship sinks in South China Sea
45 people have been rescued as authorities continue operations near Spratly Islands
Hanoi: Rescuers were searching for 17 missing people on Sunday after a Vietnamese cargo ship carrying 62 sank during stormy weather in the contested South China Sea, Vietnam's foreign ministry said.
Vietnamese authorities arrived at the scene after the vessel Khoi Nguyen 18 "sank while operating in bad weather conditions in the East Sea", foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement to AFP.
Hang said Vietnamese rescuers, with "the support of Chinese rescue forces, including ships and helicopters", and other vessels in the area, rescued 45 of the 62 people, as of 12 noon (0500 GMT) on Sunday.
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Authorities and fishing vessels were "actively searching for the remaining people", Hang added.
The Khoi Nguyen 18 encountered trouble near Yongshu Reef, also known as Fiery Cross Reef, in the Spratly archipelago, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.
A Chinese rescue vessel first spotted what was believed to be a distress signal from the endangered Vietnamese ship on Saturday evening, China's state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday.
Six Chinese vessels and a rescue helicopter as well as one Vietnamese vessel were conducting search and rescue operations in the area, according to Xinhua.
The Khoi Nguyen 18 is a Vietnamese-registered cargo ship measuring just under 70 metres in length, according to the Marine Traffic monitoring website.
