NANJING - Rescuers were still trying to locate the eight missing crew members Friday, more than a day after a cargo ship sank off east China coast, local maritime authorities said.

The vessel capsized after being hit by a Panama-registered container ship at 1:20 am Thursday, with all 11 crews falling into the sea waters, the maritime bureau in the city of Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, said in a statement.

The container ship, which is owned by a Malaysia shipping company and was travelling to Singapore from eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, rescued three crew members out of the sea waters 170 km from Lianyungang.

The 97-meter-long and 15.8-meter-wide sunken ship, owned by a shipping company in the city of Wuhu, was travelling from the southeastern Chinese city of Fuzhou to northern city of Tianjin at the time of the accident.