Five fishing boats encountered a strong gale Tuesday afternoon in east China's Jiangsu Province, leaving seven fishermen still missing, local government said Wednesday night.

The accident happened at about 5:00 PM on Tuesday, the five fishing boats were sailing back to the Xinyanggang Port from the Dongsha Fishery in Sheyang County, Jiangsu. A sudden strong gale put the 35 fishermen aboard into a dangerous situation.

After receiving the report, the local government mobilized nearly 500 rescuers to search the fishermen.

So far, 28 fishermen have been rescued, but seven others are still missing.

Search is still going on, local government said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2005)