Seoul - Six fishermen were missing and two were rescued after a Chinese fishing boat capsized Monday when it collided with a South Korean freighter, the South Korea Coast Guard said.

What caused the collision in international waters 175 kilometres off the southern South Korean island of Mara was not immediately known, the Coast Guard reported from Inchon.

Search operations were being carried out to find the missing after two of their Chinese crewmates were pulled from the sea by sailors aboard the 16,400-ton freighter.

The accident was the second such one to occur in three days off South Korea. On Saturday, five crew members of a Chinese cutter went missing and two were rescued after their craft was hit and sunk by another South Korean freighter about
100 kilometres from Monday's incident, the Coast Guard said.

The missing from the earlier accident had not been found by Monday. (dpa)