HANOI, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Typhoon Chanchu, the strongest on record in the South China Sea this month, has killed seven Vietnamese fishermen and left many others missing, Vietnam News Agency reported Friday.

    Eleven Vietnamese fishing ships with hundreds of people on boards sailing near an island of China's Taiwan were swept away by the typhoon, six of them sank, and five others were still missing, the agency quoted sources from the Border Guard Command in Vietnam's central Da Nang city.

    As of Friday noon, rescuers found 60 people on the ships, seven of them died. All 11 fishing ships are from the city. They are actively seeking missing fishermen.

    Chanchu, which means "pearl", formed in the Pacific, about 550 km east of Mindanao island in the Philippines on May 9. It hit central Philippines on Saturday, killing at least 32 people and affecting thousands of others. Enditem