China asks Malaysia to speed up shipwreck search operations

China today asked Malaysia to speed up the search operations to rescue five Chinese tourists who went missing after a tourist boat sank in rough seas off Malaysia.
Chinese Foreign Ministry also expressed hope that Malaysia would report the developments about the rescue operations promptly.
Twenty Chinese tourists and two of the vessel's three crew members were rescued after the boat sank off Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island on Saturday.
The sinking of the boat, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, sparked a major air and sea search covering some 400 nautical square miles.
Twenty Chinese tourists survived hours in the water due to their life jackets and by clinging to objects from the boat, but three tourists died.

"In the meantime, China hopes the Malaysian side will carry out fair and objective investigation to find out the truth as early as possible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
Geng expressed deep condolences to the victims, adding that the Chinese Consulate General's Office based in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia had sent staff to coordinate rescue work with the search and rescue centre, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.