Rescuers are still searching for 12 people after a ferry sank in the Yangtze River in Anhui province on Thursday.

Rescuers comprising maritime workers, armed police and hospital staff are working round-the-clock with the help of dozens of boats after nine people were rescued in the accident, which happened at 1:40 am in Maanshan city while the ferry was en route to Hexian county, according to a news release from the Maanshan Information Office.

The ferry route has been suspended and the cause of the accident is still under investigation, the release said.

The initial investigation shows that the ferry, which had 14 parking spaces, was carrying eight vehicles and two motorbikes when the accident happened, the release said.

"The saved are receiving treatment in two hospitals and are in stable condition," said Li Hai, a publicity official of Maanshan, while visiting the Maanshan People's Hospital on Thursday afternoon.

Calls to the hospital went unanswered.

"The water is vast and I can see at least about a dozen boats, including two big salvage vessels and several speedboats, working on the river," said Xu Pengfei, an official of the city's publicity department, while he was inspecting the rescue on the riverbank.

"The rescuers have been working since 3 am in the morning. For now, saving lives is the priority, and we will try to get the wreck out of the water later."

Two salvage boats had arrived at the site of the accident, which is at the center of the river, on Thursday afternoon, and started to get the ferry out of water, according to the city's publicity department.

Witnesses said that the weather was fine when the accident happened, and only this ferry was on the route, ruling out the possibility of a collision, according to a report on China Central Television.

"I hope the bridge across the Yangtze River can be completed as soon as possible," said a netizen named Sky on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like micro blog service.

Construction on the bridge, spanning 11 kilometers across the Yangtze River in Maanshan, started in 2008 and is expected to be open by the end of next year.

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Liu Donghui in Hefei contributed to this story.