Rescuers were still searching for eight missing crew members of a ship of the Republic of Korea (ROK) that capsized off the coast of south China's Guangdong Province, after they have found the bodies of nine crew members as of Saturday noon.

The ship has broken into two parts and sunk near an island named Shangchuan, said an official with the Guangdong Maritime Rescue Center.

The 17 crew members on the ship included eight from the ROK, eight from Myanmar and one from Indonesia, according to an official with the Naihai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2008)