Sea collision leaves 17 missing off China

Seventeen people are missing after a Chinese fishing boat collided with a foreign cargo ship and sank in the East China Sea, the state-owned China News Service reported, citing the country's coastguard fleet.

The fishing boat, Lu Rong Yu 58398, had 19 people on board when the incident happened at 3.40am on Saturday Beijing time (1940 GMT), it said, adding that two people had been rescued by passing fishing boats and a search and rescue operation was still underway.

It did not specify where in the East China Sea the collision happened, or which country the foreign cargo ship belonged to.

The East China Sea is home to a group of uninhabited islets claimed by both China and Japan and previous incidents involving Chinese fishing boats and Japanese patrol ships have stoked diplomatic rows.