HANGZHOU: Search continued Sunday for seven sailors who were missing after two ships collided on waters off Dachen Island, Taizhou city in east China's Zhejiang province Saturday, local police said Sunday.

Nine crew members of the fishing boat Minxiayu 706 fell into water after their boat collided with another ship coded CAIM OCEAN and sunk, but only two of them were rescued, said Jia Ce, an official with the frontier defense police of Taizhou City, "The other seven were still missing as of 9 a.m.."

The city's maritime affairs authority and police dispatched rescuers to the accident site immediately and demanded ships passing or operating in nearby waters to join the rescue, Jia said.

"Strong gale and high waves brought difficulty to the rescue work. We are expanding the search coverage," said Guo Wenbiao, captain of a fishing ship.

The police is investigating the cause of the accident.