The three Chinese sailors rescued from a cargo ship that sank Sunday in the Sea of Japan near Russia's far-eastern port of Vladivostok are in good health, but seven other crew members remain missing, an official with the Chinese Consulate in Vladivostok told Xinhua Thursday.

Chinese consulate officials in the city of Khabarovsk arrived at the port of Nakhodka to visit the rescued sailors shortly after the incident, said Wang Pengbo, a Chinese consulate official in Vladivostok.

The officials have met with Russian border guard officials regarding the search for the missing crew members, Wang said.

The Chinese side has asked Russia to investigate the cause for the accident and notify China of the results, he added.

Wang confirmed that the vessel was Sierra Leone-flagged and its owner is based in Hong Kong.

A total of 16 sailors, including 10 Chinese and six Indonesians, were aboard the New Star cargo ship when it sank.

According to earlier Russian news agency reports, eight sailors died at sea after the vessel sank in a storm off Russia's Pacific coast Sunday morning.

Half the crew were picked up from a life-raft by a nearby Russian border guard vessel, but they failed to save those aboard the second one.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2009)