“We received a notification from the Cambodian Police Department on Thursday night, saying that the police found a sunken ship carrying 41 Chinese citizens on board, with 18 having been rescued and the remaining 23 still missing,” the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia said in a statement.

The survivors said that the people on board departed from Guangzhou, China on Sept 11 and were in distress shortly after arriving in the waters of Preah Sihanouk province.

The search and rescue operation was still going on. (ILKHA)