HANOI, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen Vietnamese fishing ships with a total of 287 people on board have gone missing in Typhoon Chanchu, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Monday.

    The 18 ships from the four central provinces of Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh had been defined by May 21 either sinking or going missing, the newspaper quoted Vietnamese deputy fisheries minister Nguyen Viet Thang as saying.

    According to information released at a meeting between the People's Committee of Da Nang and the deputy minister on Sunday morning, Da Nang had seven fishing ships sunk and gone missing in the typhoon. Local authorities estimated that 163 fishermen on the seven ships could have died, and 53 others could have gone missing.

    Vietnam has yet to have full statistics of the number of ships and fishermen hit by the typhoon. Local media have recently reported dozens of ships with hundreds of people on board have either sunk or gone missing, causing dozens of deaths.

    By 21:30 of May 20, Chinese forces had rescued a total of 21 Vietnamese fishing ships sailing in the Chinese waters hit by the typhoon, the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi said, noting that they had supplied fuel, drinking water and foodstuffs to 15 Vietnamese ships with 330 fishermen on board. Of the people, 21 have died and six have been injured, the embassy noted.

    Chanchu, which means "pearl," formed in the Pacific, about 550 km east of Mindanao island in the Philippines on May 9. It hit the central Philippines, then headed to central Vietnam, but suddenly changed its direction to southern China, killing dozens of people and affecting thousands of others from the three countries. Enditem