A cargo boat which was reported missing in the Bohai Sea of north China more than two month ago has been found sunk in the sea with 10 people aboard missing, local maritime authorities said Monday.

The missing were unlikely to have survived, said Cheng Rumang, an official with the Maritime Affairs Administration of Tianjin, a port city which is more than 70 sea miles away from the site where the boat was found.

The boat was reported missing on its way to Tianjin after it took some 500 tons of sand in Caofeidian, an island of northern Hebei Province in the Bohai around 8 PM on Feb. 20 this year and bad weather was blamed for the accident, said Cheng.

All the victims are from central China's Hubei Province and four boat owners were also missing from the accident, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2006)