A cargo ship collided with a fishing vessel in waters east of Shandong province's Weihai city early on Sunday, resulting in eight people from the fishing vessel missing, Shandong maritime authorities said.

As of 2 pm, one person from the fishing vessel has been rescued and is in stable condition, and the search and rescue efforts are still ongoing, the authority said.

At about 5 am, the Weihai maritime search and rescue center received a report of a collision between a Shanghai-registered cargo ship and a Liaoning-registered fishing vessel about 3.5 nautical miles east of Weihai's Chengshantou, which is the easternmost point of the Shandong Peninsula. The fishing vessel sank, while the cargo ship remained in normal condition.

Records indicate that there were nine people registered on board the fishing vessel when it departed. The maritime search and rescue center immediately coordinated with relevant parties to organize a search and rescue operation, deploying professional rescue ships, helicopters, and nearby cargo and fishing vessels, the authority said.