Seven bodies have now been recovered after a boat carrying sugarcane across a reservoir capsized in strong winds in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, bringing the death toll to eight and leaving just one more missing.

The accident took place at about 2 PM Monday in the Xiangzhou township near Laibin City in central Guangxi, when Qin Sunting, a villager from Wangduo village, used a boat without the consent of its owner to carry sugarcane across the reservoir with 15 other farmers from the villages of Wangduo and Longbao, said Jia Chaoqiang, Party secretary of the Xiangzhou county.

The farmers loaded the boat with about 15 tons of sugarcane and were about to return home. However, the boat, which has a load capacity of 20 tons, encountered strong winds midway and sank.

Three women and four men managed to reach the shoreline, of whom two women were later hospitalized and are now reported "stable".

Rescuers found one body around midnight.

Rescue work has been suspended as the eight oxygen tanks have been used up. The survival chances of the missing woman are slim, according to Jia.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2007)