XIAMEN - The search continues for nine people after two cargo boats collided and sank in the East China Sea early Thursday, the local salvage authority said.

The Ministry of Transport's East China Sea salvage bureau received a report of an accident at 6:12 a.m., which said that due to the collision 13 people were in the waters off Nanri Island, east of China's province of Fujian. At the time of the report, two people had been rescued by passing boats and 11 were adrift.

By 7:30 a.m., the bureau's rescue fleet had retrieved two people from the water, one was in a stable condition and the other had to receive emergency first aid, the bureau said in a statement.

It said rescue operation was continuing.

Both boats were Chinese vessels.