A South Korean fishing boat sank off waters in Chungcheongnam-do of South Korea early Saturday morning, leaving eight people missing including five Chinese sailors, sources from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul confirmed.

The 69-tonnage boat barged against a 2,116-tonnage freighter and sank in the said waters at 2:15 local time on Saturday. Nine sailors were aboard the boat when the collision happened. The rescued sailor is a Korean national. He said that the sailors were sleeping when the boat was hit suddenly and capsized in about 10 minutes.

The Chinese Embassy in Seoul has contacted the local coast guards and requested them to try every means to rescue the missing sailors. And the embassy is verifying the identity of the Chinese sailors.

South Korea coast guards have dispatched 17 ships and helicopters to search for the missing sailors.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the collision.