Rescuers scour South China Sea for 17 missing after Vietnamese vessel sinks

Rescuers were searching on Sunday for 17 people still missing after a Vietnamese ship sank in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, while 45 have been pulled from the waters since Saturday night, China's state broadcaster CCTV said.

Chinese authorities said the cargo vessel Khoi Nguyen 18, with 62 Vietnamese nationals aboard, ran into distress in waters near Fiery Cross Reef, CCTV added.

A distress flare from the vessel was first spotted by a Chinese rescue ship, the Nanhai Jiu 115, on Saturday evening, CCTV said.

The Chinese vessel discovered a life raft with 29 people approximately 38 nautical miles north of Fiery Cross Reef. Two further rescue missions have taken the total number recovered to 45 people.

Two rescue vessels and one rescue helicopter are searching for the 17 people still missing.

The Vietnamese-registered vessel is nearly 70 m (230 ft) long with a gross tonnage of 999 metric tons.

Vietnam's foreign ministry said that immediately after the incident occurred, Vietnamese authorities coordinated closely and promptly arrived at the scene.

"Vietnam deployed search and rescue operations, with the support of Chinese search and rescue forces and ships near the area," a spokesperson told local media, thanking China for the support.

The area around the reef is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha Islands, a group of highly contested reefs, islets and atolls in the resource-rich South China Sea.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire strategic waterway, including the Spratlys, where it has built runways and militarised artificial islands.

The claims overlap with those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.