Chances of survival remain "very slim" for the 10 missing passengers aboard an illegal ferry, which sank amid foggy weather on Friday, local police said yesterday.

"I can't see much chance of any of the 10 missing being found alive," a police spokesman from Changxing Island, where the illegal ferry set off from on Friday afternoon, told China Daily yesterday.

"Because of the cold weather, it takes four to seven days, much longer than usual, for the bodies to rise to the water surface.

"But search operations are ongoing," he said.

The incident occurred on the fourth consecutive day of foggy weather in Shanghai, before it turned clear on Saturday.

Heavy fog also caused serious flight delays, traffic jams and ferry operations between mainland Shanghai and its satellite islets Chongming, Changxing and Hengsha, officials said.

The ferry, an 11-m-long by 2-m-wide vessel carrying 24 passengers, collided with an anchored vessel when it was 2 to 3 km from the shore.

Thirteen of the 24 passengers were rescued, but the body of a woman was found lodged in a window when the boat was salvaged on Saturday.

The three islands, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, are separated from mainland Shanghai by the river. Transportation depends mainly on ferries, although a new bridge and tunnel being constructed is expected to make travel easier between the mainland and islets by next year.

Ferry services are cancelled in bad weather, which usually leads to illegal ones being operated, the spokesman said.

Zhu Weijia, a local hospital employee and resident of Changxing Island, said he hoped the tunnel-bridge linking the mainland and nearby islands will eventually prevent such incidents.

(China Daily January 15, 2008)