Seven people had been missing after a collision involving a fishing boat and a cargo vessel in east China sea area near Fujian Province on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Eleven sailors were on the boat when the accident happened at 1:30 p.m., a local official said.

As of 00:10 a.m. Thursday, four of them had been saved and the other seven had been missing, the official said.

Vessels and helicopters had been sent to the area to search for the missing, the official said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2009)