One person was killed and four others went missing after a ferry hit a ship and sank in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River on Sunday, the local maritime bureau said on Monday.

The ferry was en route from Jiangxia district to Hannan district in Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province, when it hit a ship from the southwestern Chongqing Municipality at 3:00 p.m., a spokesman with the Yangtze Maritime Bureau said.

He said all the 11 people aboard the ferry fell into the water. Rescuers retrieved seven people on Sunday, one of whom died despite emergency treatment.

The bureau has sent four patrol ships and mobilized more than 20 ferries and fishing boats to search for the four people who remain missing, the spokesman said.

The local government has launched an investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2007)