China's coastguard has launched a search for 23 crew members who are missing after their Panama-registered cargo ship sank off east China.

The coastguard in Zhejiang Province were alerted by the company that owned the "New Hangzhou" after crew members used a mobile phone to report the sinking at about 6 a.m. on Thursday.

The boat reportedly went down 27 nautical miles off Taizhou, in Zhejiang, at 122.06 degrees east and 28.11 degrees north in the East China Sea.

The coastguard would not name the company, which is based in Zhoushan, an island off Zhejiang.

The company sources told the coastguard they could not reach the crew shortly after the phone call.

The ship, which was loaded with 9,000 tons of cargo, was said to have left Tianjin Port on its way to Vietnam. All the crew were said to be Chinese.

No other details were available, said the coastguard.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 13, 2008)