December 20, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 15, 1423

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BEIJING, Dec 19: Eleven people were killed and 29 were missing after a cargo boat rammed a passenger ferry in thick fog on a southwestern Chinese river, state-run media said on Thursday.

The dead and missing included 18 teachers on their way to work, the Xinhua news agency said.

“We are all hoping for the best for those still missing, but their fate is really precarious,” Wang Xiangdong, an official with the China Maritime Safety Administration, told the China Daily.

The accident happened on the Yangtze river, near the city of Chongqing, on Wednesday. Of the 38 passengers and nine crew on board the ferry, seven people were rescued, the reports said.

An official in Chongqing said authorities were investigating the cause of the accident.

Boat accidents are common in China. In 1999, a ferry caught fire and sank in stormy seas off the coast of eastern Shandong province, killing 282.—Reuters