Update | Three boats lost, 74 Guangdong fishermen missing in Typhoon Wutip

Seventy-four fishermen from Guangdong are missing in rough seas near the Paracel Islands, after three fishing boats were sunk by Typhoon Wutip in the South China Sea.

Five boats, all registered in Taishan , Guangdong, one of them to a Hong Kong owner, issued distress calls on Sunday evening, according to the Jiangmen city government, which administers Taishan.

State media late yesterday said 14 people had been rescued, while 83 were safe on the surviving fishing boats, including the Hong Kong-owned Taisha 1698. The other boat, however, had lost power and was drifting, the Jiangmen government said.

Five survivors, some with broken bones, were airlifted to hospitals in Sanya , Hainan , China News Service reported. "The waves were as high as 10 metres," one said.

Chen Songyin, captain of the Yuetaiyu 61008, which did not sink, told Xinhua the sea looked fairly calm early on Sunday but worsened by late morning.

"It was too late to leave at that time," he said. "By 2pm, visibility was less than 10 metres, and the TV antenna and satellite telephone on the ship were destroyed [by the typhoon]."

Zhuo Guoxiong, a Jiangmen government propaganda official, said: "No Hong Kong people were on board the five boats."