Beijing - China's foreign ministry on Friday said it had summoned Russian officials to express its dissatisfaction over the handling of an incident in which a Chinese cargo ship sank after coming under fire from a Russian coastguard vessel.

Deputy Foreign Ministry Li Hui summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday, saying China was "shocked" by the incident, the ministry said.

Li accused Russia of failing to mount a timely rescue of sailors from the sinking ship and of not sharing the results of its investigation into the incident.

"The Chinese side cannot accept this and expresses its strong dissatisfaction," Li was quoted as telling the Russian ambassador.

Eight crew are missing and feared dead after Russian vessels fired on the Chinese ship as it was fleeing port after a dispute over a rice cargo, Chinese and Russian reports said.

China's foreign ministry said seven Chinese citizens were missing after the cargo ship New Star sank Saturday off Russia's eastern port of Nakhodka in waters close to Japan.

The eighth missing crew member was apparently an Indonesian national, while eight other Chinese and Indonesian citizens were rescued.

The Hong Kong-based owner of the ship on Thursday accused Russian officials of covering up an "act of murder" by a warship.

China was further angered by a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson's comment on Friday that the captain of the Chinese ship was to blame for the sinking.

A second foreign ministry official summoned another Russian diplomat on Friday to protest against the Russian spokesperson's "unacceptable" position, the Chinese ministry said.

The Chinese officials repeated China's demand for Russia to "spare no effort in searching for the missing crew members, and investigating and finding the cause of the incident", it said.

The Hong Kong-based J-Rui Lucky Shipping Company also disputed the Russian account of the incident.

"Their account does not mention the fact that their warship fired on our cargo ship," the Chinese government website china. org quoted a statement by J-Rui as saying.

"What they are portraying as a rescue was in fact an act of murder," the statement said.

Chinese and Russian media reports said the Russian Coast Guard opened fire after the ship ignored warnings to return to port.

China's Global Times newspaper said at least one sailor was shot dead before the ship sank.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said eight crew died at sea after the Sierra Leone-flagged vessel sank during a storm.

The newspaper said a Russian Coast Guard cruiser fired at least 500 rounds on the ship and "forced it to sail back toward the port in force-6 winds."

The ship began to sink on the way back to port and one of the two lifeboats was engulfed by high waves, the newspaper said.

The J-Rui statement said Russian Navy officers "did not offer any assistance to the crew of the New Star to board the warship".

Russian prosecutors were investigating the conduct of the Coast Guard officers in the incident, RIA Novosti said earlier. (dpa)