A fishing boat from southern China's Hainan Province got stranded Wednesday morning when taking shelter from Typhoon Utor near Langhua Reef, part of the Xisha Islands.

The boat Qionghai05098 has 17 fishermen on board. A rescue ship has been sent there, said sources with the Ministry of Communications.

Utor, the 23rd typhoon this year to affect China, is sweeping the area around Xisha Islands.

The whirlwind scale reached 13 on the sea when the fishing boat was stranded, said Zhu Baozhu, an official with the ministry.

Zhu said fishermen on the sea may have risks of life at any time.

Meteorological stations have different forecasts on Utor's moving direction.

Earlier reports from the Chinese Central Meteorological Station said that the eye of Utor was only 320 km away from Sanya City in south China's island province of Hainan at 5:00 PM Wednesday.

It also warned of rainstorms in most parts of Hainan and cold air as high wind sweeping most parts of South China Sea and east part of the island.

China's Ministry of Communications has 38 rescue ships, two helicopters and six rescue teams on South China Sea. They are ready at any time to fight against Utor, said Zhu.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2006)