Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordination Center has rescued 16 mainland sailors from a container vessel at the small hours Thursday at the waters of the Daya Bay mouth, Guangdong Province when typhoon Imbudo hit Hong Kong and part of southern China.

All of the 16 sailors are safe and sound.

Hung Shung-leung, spokesman for Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordination Center, said in an interview with Xinhua that his center received an emergency call from Guangdong Provincial Maritime Search and Rescue Center, asking the center to rescue sailors on "Fu Feng" -- a smaller container vessel at the mouth of Daya Bay at 19:15 Wednesday.

He said his center immediately arranged the rescue affairs and the first batch of rescuers, carried by a helicopter and a plane, departed from the rescue base at 20:00 Wednesday.

Affected by typhoon Imbudo, the storm made the sea waters as high as 10 meters. He described the rescuing task as very difficult in such a dark night with storm.

He said the two planes made a total of three flights for rescuing the 16 crew members on the vessel and the rescue work lasted 10 hours and a half.

Fu Feng is 81 meters long and has a tonnage of 1,584. The vessel could not sail normally after losing its rudder.

Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordination Center is believed to become the world's most famous maritime search and rescue centers.

Hong Kong Observatory issued strong wind signal at 22:40 Wednesday and 36 flights arriving and departing Hong Kong International Airport were canceled Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2003)