A Vietnamese freighter carrying 62 crew members sank near Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands, leaving 23 people missing as of Sunday morning in the disputed South China Sea.
Rescue teams have so far pulled 39 survivors from the water after the cargo vessel Khoi Nguyen 18 went down. A distress signal was detected before 18:30 local time on Saturday, prompting a multinational response. All 62 people aboard were Vietnamese nationals.
The search operation involves six Chinese ships, a helicopter and one Vietnamese vessel scouring the waters around the reef, an area long contested by multiple claimants in the South China Sea.