The 22 survivors from "Dashun" shipwreck near the coastal city of Yantai on November 24 are now recovering well and some have left the hospital.

Their recovery has been attributed to the timely on-the-spot treatment given by several hundred doctors and nurses who reached the scene from five nearby hospitals after the rescues were made, said officials from the city health department.

The survivors have received intensive care at the local hospital, and doctors conducted emergency consultations for the treatment of Xu Zhichao, one of the most seriously affected, who contracted acute pulmonary edema after his time in the frigid water, and his treatment has been successful.

At the rescue site, search operations continue with more professional marine rescue personnel and divers arriving from Shanghai and Guangdong Province.

The auxiliary vessel "Zhifu" from the Shengli Oil Field at the Bohai Sea shore and a towboat from the North Sea Naval Troop joined the rescue efforts last night bringing professional sea rescue outfits.

China's largest heavy-lift vessel the "Dali" with 2,500 tons of pulling ability has left its base in Shanghai for the site to begin salvaging the remains of the disaster.

Divers have met difficulties in attempts to locate bodies in the wreck because of low visibility under the sea as a result of days of storms and high waves.

By this afternoon, only four bodies of the shipwreck victims had been recovered.

Sources said that more than 50 frogmen began underwater salvage work this morning from a rescue ship to look for those still missing.

Senior officials including Wu Guanzheng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central committee and secretary of the Shandong CPC Provincial Committee, Huang Zhendong, minister of communications, and Song Fatang, vice governor of Shandong Province, also arrived on the scene to direct the search operations.

Forty-five frogmen from the Chinese naval forces are on the way to the scene, sources said.

For the past several days, hundreds of rescue workers have been searched a 28-mile (45-kilometer) stretch of coastline for the missing despite sub zero temperatures and high waves.

With 262 passengers and 40 crew members on aboard, the "Dashun" of the Yantai Yanda Automobile Ferry Company caught fire on the afternoon of November 24 and broke apart and sank by midnight. (Xinhua)