Ten sailors are missing after their fishing boat was hit by a ship and sank off Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province, local authorities said.

The boat, carrying 12 crew members, was hit by an unidentified freighter and sank at about 3:50 a.m. Saturday, said a spokesman with the frontier defense troops in Zhoushan.

Captain Wang Hua and first mate Qiu Haojie struggled on to a life raft and drifted until 8:30 p.m. when they were rescued by another fishing boat, the spokesman said.

Local maritime authorities and frontier troops were using rescue boats and helicopters to search the area, he said.

No information about the freighter was available, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2009)