Two fishermen remain missing after a fishing boat sank early on Monday in the Beibu Gulf, located in the northern part of the South China Sea, the provincial maritime affairs bureau confirmed on Tuesday.

The boat, carrying 10 people from southeast China's Fujian Province, went down at 5:30 a.m. about 26 nautical miles west of the southernmost island province of Hainan. Eight people were saved by passing fishing boats.

The maritime affairs bureau sent a rescue vessel and a helicopter to the site on Monday morning to search for the missing.

The search was continuing on Tuesday and the cause of the accident was under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 4, 2007)