Eleven Chinese are missing in the southern Pacific Ocean after the engine of their ship broke down, Chinese maritime authorities said Monday.

The 11 people, including 10 men and a woman from east China's Fujian Province, were aboard a 31-meter-long and 5.5-meter-wide wooden vessel that set off from Fujian's port city of Putian to Guam on Jan. 1.

The ship's engine was broken on Jan. 9 when it was about 500 nautical miles off Guam, and began drifting on the high seas. The passengers had called for rescue by maritime satellite telephone, a spokesman with the Fujian Maritime Safety Administration said.

Zheng Xiuguang, a villager of Fengwei Town of Fujian's Quanzhou City, said he had received a call on Jan. 9 from his brother aboard the ship.

"He told me there was a failure in their ship engine and asked me to seek help from local authorities if there was no news from him a few days later," Zheng said.

But his brother has been out of touch ever since, and Zheng called the police on Jan. 15.

So far, the relatives of nine people aboard the ship have called the police.

The ship was not registered, and most of the passengers were villagers from Quanzhou, according to the Fujian Maritime Safety Administration.

The maritime authorities and border troops have launched a search and rescue operation.

(CRIENGLIS.com via Xinhua, January 18, 2010)