HONG KONG: Rescuers were searching on Sunday (Jul 26) for 17 people missing after a Vietnamese ship sank in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, while 45 were pulled from the waters, China's state broadcaster CCTV said. A distress flare from the vessel was first spotted by a Chinese rescue ship, the Nanhai Jiu 115, on Saturday evening, CCTV said. Six Chinese vessels, a rescue helicopter, and a Vietnamese vessel joined the search and rescue effort at the site, it said. "Vietnam deployed search and rescue operations, with the support of Chinese search and rescue forces and ships near the area," a spokesperson told local media, thanking China for the support. The area around the reef is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha Islands, a group of highly contested reefs, islets, and atolls in the resource-rich South China Sea.