13 foreign sailors were rescued from a sinking cargo ship Thursday afternoon in the sea waters near Dandong Port in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The 13 foreigners, including eight people from the Republic of Korea (ROK) and five from the Philippines, were aboard the ROK-registered ship when it began to sank 65 sea miles from Dandong at 1:30 PM Thursday.

Dandong's border inspection guards, who received SOS signals from the crew members, rushed to the scene for rescue along with the local maritime salvagers.

Despite strong winds and high waves, the Chinese salvagers managed to take all the 13 crew members to safety at 3:15 PM thesame day.

The ship, carrying 6,100 tons of goods from Dandong to the ROK, sank entirely into the seawaters at around 5:00 PM.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2006)