Two Chinese sailors who suffered serious injuries on a foreign container vessel received timely medical care after they were plucked from the deck in heavy seas by a helicopter rescue crew yesterday morning.

The sailors were injured in a ship-board accident at 12:10am yesterday on the Panamanian vessel Lanshan Zhixing, which was heading from Shanghai to South Korea across the East China Sea.

Details of the mishap were not released, but authorities said Liu Weichao, one of the sailors, was burned by steam, and the other, Yuan Qinglong, suffered a crushed middle finger.

The ship was more than 100 kilometers out to sea when the accident occurred. Hospital transport by fast boat would have taken 12 hours.

Donghai Rescue Bureau decided to dispatch a helicopter, but the mission was held up by thunderstorms for hours and did not take off until 8:20am yesterday.

The chopper reached the vessel in 20 minutes, but strong winds made it impossible for aircraft to land on the ship.

The helicopter then dropped a ladder as it hovered 7 meters above the deck and was able to pick up the injured sailors. The patients landed at 9:40am in the city and were rushed to a downtown hospital for treatment. They were out of critical condition last night.