Ambassador Xiao Qian calls on Australia to help save lives after Chinese fishing boat capsizes in Indian Ocean

Ambassador Xiao Qian held a media briefing in China's embassy on Thursday announcing search and rescue efforts were underway to find the 39 crew aboard the ship, of which 17 are from China.

Mr Xiao said Chinese President Xi Jinping was personally concerned by the news and had instructed overseas officials to "coordinate with our friendly countries - Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives and other relevant countries - for a possible immediate search and rescue".

The ambassador said he had been in touch with Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Agrictulture Minister Murray Watt to coordinate further assistance.

The Australian Border Force and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority have also been involved, he said.

"But to this moment, no individual has been found alive whatsoever and now we are - we are now coordinating further with our Australian colleagues for their actions to be taken," he said.

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"We wish we could send more - more aircraft, more ships, and more staff, to that area, it's pretty far, it's 5000 kilometres to the west of Perth. Within Australia's search and rescue area, but it's pretty far from the Australia continent.

"We wish our Australian colleagues will coordinate with other international or foreign vessels or ships near the area for - to help to search and rescue to save as many lives as possible."

The remaining crew is made up of 17 people from Indonesia and five from the Philippines.

Mr Xiao said the fishing vessel was on its way back to China from an expedition near Argentina when it lost contact with authorities.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority received a distress beacon signal from the fishing vessel about 5.30am on Tuesday Australian time.

Several ships and an Australian Defence Force P-8A Poseidon aircraft have been searching the area since Tuesday morning.

Weather conditions in the area on Tuesday were "extreme" but had improved by Wednesday, AMSA said.

A Perth-based Challenger rescue aircraft will drop a buoy to help with drift modelling to further assist in the search.

The capsized hull was spotted and the transmitter detected more than 1000km south of Sri Lanka, with the nearest port appearing to be the island chain of the Maldives, about 500km to the north of the search area.

The vessel is believed to be the Lu Peng Yuan Yu 028 which is based in the eastern coastal province of Shandong and operated by the Penglai Jinglu Fishery Company.

- with AAP