A search is under way for 13 seamen missing after their fishing boat sank off east China's coast early on Thursday.

Two crew members were rescued about 10 hours after a sudden tornado capsized the vessel just after midnight on the East China Sea, said the captain, Xu Bo, who was one of those rescued.

Xu said that the boat sank within just two or three minutes and all the 15 crew members fell into the water.

Xu and wheelman Ruan Mankang were pulled from the water by sailors from a passing vessel at about 10 AM near Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province.

The fishery and border defense authorities in Zhoushan have dispatched rescuers to search for the missing.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2008)