China sent 12 crew members of a capsized ship back to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday afternoon, sources with frontier guards said.

The survivors were found and rescued from a DPRK cargo ship that capsized 40 nautical miles offshore Dandong Harbor in northeast China's Liaoning province on the night of April 6.

The cargo ship had 35 crew on board. The bodies of five crew members killed in the wreck have been found and were sent back to the DPRK on Sunday.

The rest 18 crew members remain missing, and their chances of survival are believed to be slim.

DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials received the 12 crewmembers sent back by Chinese frontier guards and thanked China for the rescue efforts.

The search for the missing crews is continuing.