Five more fishermen were rescued early on Thursday morning but two others remained missing after their boat sank off the coast of south China's Guangdong Province a day ago.

The five people had been drifting on a life raft for about 18 hours when passing fishermen rescued them at about 1 a.m.

Another sailor was rescued within three hours by a passing cargo ship after the fishing boat sank at 7 a.m. on Wednesday amid strong winds and high waves off Naozhou in Zhanjiang.

Rescuers were still searching for two missing people.

The vessel, carrying eight fishermen, sprung a leak and sunk within just 20 minutes, the fishermen said. All the crew jumped into the sea.

The survivors said they saw rescue helicopters but failed to attract their attention in the bad weather conditions.

Officials from the Guangzhou-based South China Sea Salvation Bureau said the survival chances for the missing were slim because of the plummeting temperatures and rough seas.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)