China is still searching for the 16 missing sailors of a Republic of Korea (ROK) vessel that collided with a container ship run by a Chinese company and sank off east China's coast, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing Thursday.

The investigation into the accident is still going on, Jiang said.

The ROK ship "Golden Rose" sank off the coast near Yantai City of east China's Shandong Province, after it collided on Saturday with the Saint Vincent-registered "Jinsheng", a container ship operated by Shandong Lufeng Shipping Company Ltd.

Jiang said the Chinese government attached great importance to the incident and the Foreign Ministry has coordinated with the Ministry of Communication and Shandong provincial government in carrying out search-and-rescue work.

China has informed the ROK embassy the latest development of the research work and agreed to allow the ROK side to join in the search-and-rescue work, she said.

Source: Xinhua