Chinese rescuers saved a drowning Indian seaman out of sea early Monday near the coastal city of Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province.

Partsiban Viknesh, a crew member of the Indian freighter Patalztutra, accidentally fell into water about 40 nautical miles southeast of Qinhuangdao at 10:40 PM on Sunday, when the ship was sailing from Qinhuangdao to South Korea, according to the Ministry of Communications.

Failing to find the missing seaman, the Indian freighter radioed for help to the ministry's Beihai Rescue Bureau, which immediately dispatched its professional salvage ship Beihai Rescue 108 for the mission.

Beihai Rescue 108 made an estimate of the whereabouts of the missing seaman and outlined a sea area to search, based on the wind and sea flow movements. The rescuers looked for the seaman with infrared device and floodlights, said Shen Hao, an official with the ministry.

"The seaman was found at 5:50 AM about 2 nautical miles away from the falling point, and he had been struggling in water for more than seven hours," Shen said.

The seaman was so exhausted that he could not even speak, and was sent quickly to a hospital in Qinhuangdao for treatment in the morning, Shen said, adding more information might be available when he got better.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2007)