More than 60 hours of rescue efforts have failed to locate the 14 sailors missing off east China's coast, said a maritime official on Thursday night.

Two fishing boats capsized in the sea off east China's Zhejiang Province after being rammed by unidentified ships in two separate incidents early this week, leaving 14 sailors missing.

He Yipei, deputy director of the provincial maritime bureau, said their chance of survival was slim as the temperature of the sea is about 10 degrees centigrade.

He said the rescue efforts of more than 30 ships have been greatly hampered by the heavy fog and high winds.

One of the boat named "Zhepuyu No. 72329", registered in Zhoushan City, sank at 6:50 PM on Monday in the seawaters 55 nautical miles east of Shipu port, Xiangshan County.

All 12 sailors on board the boat fell into the sea after being hit by a foreign ship, which disappeared after the incident. Four sailors clambered onto a life raft and were rescued two hours later by a passing ship.

An initial investigation appears to show the collision was accidental and was caused by heavy fog. A foreign ship who was later repaired in northeastern Dalian port was suspected of causing the accident.

Sailors from the foreign ship, which later docked in the port of Dalian, recalled their ship hit something on Monday evening, but failed to find anything when they searched the waves.

Maritime officials from Zhejiang are still in Dalian to investigate into the matter. In a separate accident, another fishing boat, "Zhedingyu No. 14413", registered in the same city, was hit by a ship and sank in the seawaters near Shengsi County in the early morning of Tuesday. Only one of the seven sailors on the boat has been rescued.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2006)