A fishing boat with 13 people on board that strayed off the coast of Wenchang City of South China's Hainan Province for more than 10 hours was found by the maritime affairs bureau rescuers by Wednesday midnight.
All the workers and sailors on board were out of danger by 23:30, Xinhua reports.
The vessels, named "Yue Zhanjiang 10020," left Wenchang in the morning for an offshore oil drilling platform, carrying engineers and workers with the National Oceanic Bureau. But due to engine failure, it had strayed on the sea for more than ten hours.
"It became very dangerous as the wind was stronger, and waves turning bigger at night," said Li Jie, a rescued engineer.
One hour after an SOS signal was sent, the rescue team arrived and helped the vessel out of danger, he said.
The fishing boat was just one of the more than 300 vessels that were helped by Hainan maritime rescue teams in the past five years. A total of 3,525 people have been rescued.
More than 92 percent of the rescue operations have been successful in the past five years, according to the provincial headquarters for offshore search and rescue.