More than 700 Chinese fishermen were forced to dock in southern China's Nansha and Xisha Islands to escape stormy seas caused by Typhoon Hagibis.

The Chinese boats also evacuated 29 Filipino fishermen and seven from Vietnam. More fishermen from the Philippines and Vietnam are also believed to have sought refuge on the islands.

Two rescue boats sent by the Hainan Maritime Affairs Bureau are still anchored outside the reefs. One of them is about 18 kilometers away from the fishermen.

"The wind speed was between 75 and 100 kilometers an hour and waves seven to eight meters tall hampered our efforts to get close to the fishermen," said Peng Jianbo, captain of a rescue boat.

"The rescue work is difficult as the tropical storm is always changing course," he said.

Rescuers have managed to establish phone contact with the fishermen. Several boats have run out of food and drinking water but boats are sharing their resources.

Hagibis, meaning "rapidity" in the Filipino language Tagalog, blew into the South China Sea last Wednesday.

At 5 p.m. Monday, it was located at a latitude of 11.6 degrees north and a longitude of 116.0 degrees to the east, according to the China Meteorological Station in Beijing. It intensified into a typhoon on Thursday but has now weakened to a tropical storm again. It was blowing at about 72 kilometers per hour at its eye and moving eastward at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour.

(Xinhua News Agency, November 27, 2007)