At least 18 people are missing feared dead after a Chinese fishing boat was sunk off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. The attack was carried out by a vessel belonging to the Tamil Tiger rebels, navy officials said. There were 27 people reported on board the ship – a military spokesman said the other nine were rescued. The attack came as government and rebel negotiators ended four days of talks in Japan seeking to end the long-running civil war. The Chinese trawler Ufauan-u 225, sank north of Mullaittivu, a Tiger stronghold. “We were told by the Chinese that the suspected Tamil Tigers surrounded the trawler with small boats and then fired RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades),” the AFP news agency quoted an unnamed naval spokesman as saying. According to the navy, one Chinese trawler came under attack and sank and then a second came to its rescue, picking up eight Chinese and one Sri Lankan. One of the Chinese was said to be in a serious condition. Full Story