One fisherman has been rescued and 21 others were still missing as of Friday in south China's Guangdong province after stormy weather swamped their boat Tuesday,according to a press conference held in Shantou city of Guangdong Friday afternoon.

"Though the hope for the missing fishermen to be alive is slim,the search is still going on," said Su Yaoguang, vice-mayor of Shantou and director in charge of the rescue work, at the press conference.

The range of search has been expanded to 5,000 square kilometers around the water area where the boat submerged, said Su.

Affected by Tropical Storm Malou, the boat encountered bad weather near Nanpengdao Islet and capsized Tuesday. At 3:15 p.m. the Shantou Maritime Savage Center received a report from relatives of the crew on boat Yuenan'ao 33090, saying they had lost contact with the boat. So far, three planes and 33 boats have joined in the search.

Xue Defa, captain of the boat, was rescued by a passing boat, the Mingxiaoyu 1759. Xue was hospitalized but is now out of danger.

Xue recalled that at about 3:00 a.m. Tuesday, the boat was turned over by string winds. After he fell into the water, he found two other crew members. The three of them floated for a day before being found by the Mingxiaoyu 1759. The two others were too exhausted to swim to the boat, and by the time Xue was rescued, they had been carried away by waves Xue described as "terrifying."

Source: Xinhua