DALIAN - Maritime rescue vessels and a helicopter are searching for missing crew on board a sunk cargo boat Friday morning on sea near Dalian City, Northeast China's Liaoning province.

One body of the crew has been found in the sea area.

The provincial maritime rescue center said it received a phone call report at 7:56 pm. Thursday saying the boat with five or six crew on board and fully-loaded with marine products met with mishap on sea near Haiyang Island.

The center immediately gave the alarm to four fishing vessels travelling near the area requiring them to aid with the rescue. They found the body and floating goods from the boat at 8:40 pm.

The large-scale searching operation is still continuing.

Local authorities are working to investigate the information of the boat to verify the exact number of people on board.