Rescuers on Wednesday found the remains of the last of a group of villagers who were drowned after a fishing boat carrying sugar cane across a reservoir capsized in strong winds, bringing the death toll to nine.

The body was recovered from the reservoir at 10:50 a.m. on Wednesday, according to information given by Xiangzhou County Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) of Laibin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The accident took place at about 2 p.m. 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 sugar cane 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 cane 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 in "stable" condition.

Rescuers found eight other corpses on Tuesday. The accident is under further investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2007)