Four of the 81 people on board the sunken ferry died during the rescue operation, said a spokesperson for China Maritime Rescue Center, blaming their deaths on prolonged exposure to freezing seawater. Twenty-seven people jumped into the ocean when the accident took place.

The injured passengers are all in a good condition after receiving emergency medical treatment. Only one passenger remains in hospital for further observation.

The vessel, known as "Liaoludu 7,'' which was on its way from Lushun in Northeast China's Liaoning Province to the port city of Longkou in East China's Shandong Province, malfunctioned and lost power suddenly at 2:30 pm on Saturday, beginning to tilt by 20-30 degrees. The ferry was 10 nautical miles northwest of Tuoji Island in the Bohai Strait at the time of the accident.

Rescue ships from the two provinces were sent to the accident scene after receiving the ferry's call for help. Nearby fishing boats and the Ministry of Agriculture and navy craft were also called to help.

At 3:35 pm all the passengers put on life jackets and the crew put their emergency procedures into place.

Fishing boat Luchangyu 3045 was the first to arrive at the scene one hour later, rescuing 17 people when the vessel was tilting more than 40 degrees.

Strong wind hampered bids to rescue more passengers as the rescue team found it very difficult to get near the sinking boat.

The ship sank at 5:50 pm and 27 people left on board were forced to jump into the sea.

As the night fell, the rescue team kept searching for survivors in the freezing water.

By 8:45 pm, all the missing people were recovered from the water. Three men and one woman who had been identified as passengers on board died during the operation and six were rushed to hospital.

Villagers from Tuoji Island provided shelter for passengers from the stricken ferry. They had prepared warm beds, clothes and provided overnight accommodation. Fishing boats from Tuoji Town recovered a total of 54 people from the sunken ship.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, sources said.

Except for two local residents in Tuoji Island, all the passengers were transferred to Penglai, a coastal city in Shandong Province by Sunday afternoon.

The tragedy also attracted the attention of the State Council. Following the accident, Premier Zhu Rongji and Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo called for no efforts to be spared by the rescuers.

Zhang Chunxian, minister of communications, expressed his thanks to those involved in the rescue work and has been coordinating the rescue operation at the centre in Beijing.

The 1,325-ton ferry carried a total of 81 persons, including 18 crew members and 15 trucks with their 15 drivers. Built in 1980 in Japan, the ship is capable of holding 250 people and 30 automobiles. Though it already had 23 years of navigation history behind it, the ferry was still within its service term.

In another development, a 40-ton cargo vessel sank early on Saturday morning near Dalian and all the four crewmen are still missing.

On November 24, 1999, the ferryboat "Dashun,'' with 262 passengers and 40 crew members on board, capsized off Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong Province due to bad weather, huge waves and errors made by the captain and his crew members. The tragedy killed 282 people including the captain.

(China Daily February 24, 2003)