Another 12 sailors were rescued from two shipwrecks in the East China sea off the coast of Zhejiang Province on Thursday, local government officials said.

Previous reports said that a passing fishing boat saved 23 crew members from a sunken Hong Kong-registered cargo ship, also off the Zhejiang coast, and that all the rescued sailors from that ship were in good shape.

Seven of the newly-rescued sailors came from a sand carrier that struck a cargo ship and sank at about 11 p.m. on Wednesday in foggy conditions off the coast of Ningbo City.

Eight crew members on the carrier fell into the sea and one was still missing, said Zhao Liang, head of the rescue team under the city's frontier guards.

In another shipwreck off the coast of Zhoushan City, five crew members were rescued from a sinking fishing boat at about 4 a.m. on Thursday, according to the city's marine affairs bureau.

The provincial marine affairs bureau reminded vessels passing through the area to focus on navigational safety as frequent foggy weather was forecast for the next few days.

Rescuers are salvaging the vessels and investigations into the causes of the shipwrecks are under way.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 13, 2008)