HAIKOU, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of 12 Chinese fishermen have been reported missing for more than five days in south China's Nansha Islands after Typhoon Hagibis swept through the sea area.

    The fishermen were working on net cages set up at the Meiji coral islands, an important fish farm base about 650 nautical miles from Sanya, the southern tip of Hainan, said Lin Yiqun, Party secretary of Diaolou township in Lingao County of Hainan.

    Some of them were on board the ship "Qiongze Fishing 820", which was anchored near the fish farm, Lin said.

    They were reported missing early on Wednesday, Lin said.

    Local fishery administration staff are still searching for the fishermen and the boat.

    The missing fishermen were about 100 nautical miles from about 300 Chinese and foreign fishermen, who were forced to take shelter in the Nansha islands to escape the typhoon Hagibis since Friday.

    Among the fishermen, at least 250 were Chinese. The remainder included 30 Filipinos and seven Vietnamese. The typhoon, the 25th of the year, has left the islands facing food and drinking water shortages.

    Hagibis, meaning "rapidity" in the Filipino language Tagalog, blew into the South China Sea on Wednesday and intensified into a typhoon a day later.

    The Hainan provincial observatory said on Sunday that Hagibis has weakened to a tropical storm and its eye is moving eastward at a speed of 10 kilometers.