Nine killed as anchored Chinese cargo ship smashed on seawall off coast of South Korea

All 19 people on board were initially listed as missing when the ship was thrown by high waves into the seawall and sank

This handout photo taken on 15 October 2013 shows the Chinese ship in a storm off the southeastern South Korean port city of Pohang (AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

An anchored Chinese cargo ship has hit a seawall off the coast of South Korea, killing at least nine people and leaving two still missing.

The coast guard said on Wednesday morning that it had rescued eight crew members after the incident that threw most of the19 people on board into the waves on Tuesday afternoon.

The anchored ship was unloaded and ready to leave for Japan when high waves forced it against the seawall. With the ship sunk, everyone on board was listed as missing on Tuesday night after a fruitless 14-hour search was hampered by the weather and sea conditions.

This morning the coast guard from the port city of Pohang said eight members of the almost entirely Chinese crew had either been pulled from the water or picked up off the remains of the front of the ship - with the rest already sunk. The rescued sailors were wearing life jackets.

The coast guard also collected the dead bodies of nine crew members but two are still missing, the officers said.

China's state Xinhua News Agency said the 8,500-ton ship, the CHENGLU15, belonged to China's Lishen International Shipping Group Corp in Zhejiang province.