Over 20 Chinese Tourists Missing After Boat Capsizes Off Cambodia's Coast, Reports Say

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - As a result of a storm that capsized a wooden boat off Cambodia’s southwestern coast 23 Chinese citizens went missing, Cambodian newspaper Khmer Times reported on Friday, citing maritime police.

The boat was caught in a storm and capsized on Thursday night. Cambodian rescuers, police officers and fishermen managed to save 18 Chinese citizens, according to the report.

In total, 41 Chinese citizens were on board the wooden ship, sailing from the port city of Guangzhou to the Cambodian coastal city of Sihanoukville. All of the passengers were heading to Cambodia as tourists, the report said.

The group had left the port of Guangzhou on September 11 on a speedboat and then they were transferred to a wooden boat on September 17, accompanied by two Cambodian guides. The wooden boat had a leak and started to flounder in heavy waters. Soon another boat came to pick up the two Cambodians but left the 41 Chinese on the damaged wooden boat, according to one of the rescued passengers.

Beijing has asked Phnom Penh to make every effort in carrying out search and rescue operations.

"China and Cambodia are in close communication over this. We have asked the Cambodian side to make all-out search and rescue efforts. We are doing everything we can to find out more about the details of the incident and verify them as quickly as we can," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a briefing.

Search and rescue operations are continuing at the site.