Officials said the ship, the Sierra Leone-flagged New Star with 10 Chinese crew and six Indonesians on board, was in Russian waters illegally and repeatedly ignored warnings to stop.

"The investigation into the shooting on the foreign ship is being led by military prosecutors," Alexander Selentsov, an official from prosecutors in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, told the Interfax news agency.

"The captain of the New Star was repeatedly asked to stop through radio communication, flares, a flag and warning shots. But the foreign ship did not stop," he added.

He said border guards then received an order from the Federal Security Service (FSB) "to open fire on the ship".

"The order was carried out after warnings on the radio. Only then did the New Star stop," he added.

The Kommersant newspaper reported that 500 rounds were fired at the bow and stern of the vessel. It said the survivors claim the firing caused the ship's problems rather than bad weather.

Eight crew were killed in the incident while the other eight were rescued by Russian forces and taken to hospitals for treatment, Russian news agencies said.

earlier related report
China calls on Russia to probe sea mishap
China said Thursday it had called on Russia to get to the bottom of a shipping incident that left seven Chinese crew missing, but declined to comment on reports the Russian navy fired on the cargo ship.

"(China) has... asked the Russian side to make full efforts to search for and rescue the missing sailors and investigate the causes of the incident," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

"An investigation is under way."

A statement posted on the website of the Chinese consulate in the eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk said Russia had launched a search for the missing sailors but that hopes of finding them alive were slim.

Chinese media reports said the vessel was repeatedly fired upon by the Russian navy in Sunday's incident as it ran into trouble in rough seas and sank.

However, that was after the Sierra Leone-flagged, China-owned vessel New Star had earlier fled the Russian port of Nakhodka where it had been sequestered for alleged smuggling, Russian and China media reports said.

Jiang declined to address the alleged smuggling or reports the ship was fired on.

Russian officials said the ship had 10 Chinese crew and six Indonesians on board. Chinese media said eight people were rescued while one Indonesian also was missing.

In a video posted online that purportedly captured the incident, a man, apparently a Russian naval officer, is heard repeatedly urging the New Star to halt.

Meanwhile, two vessels are seen in the distance, one apparently firing at the other.

"The captain of the New Star was repeatedly asked to stop through radio communication, flares, a flag and warning shots. But the foreign ship did not stop," Alexander Selentsov, a prosecuting official in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, told the Interfax news agency.

Selentsov said a Russian investigation had been launched.

The Russian navy fired over 500 rounds to try to force the cargo ship back to port, China's state-controlled Global Times newspaper said.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper said the eight survivours who were rescued blamed the gunfire for the ship's problems rather than the bad weather.

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