Buoys marking the scuttled Chinese freighter Xing Da have mysteriously disappeared.

John Butterworth, dive instructor with SCUBA Look at Grotto Bay Beach Hotel, said he was at the Xing Da site on Tuesday morning and the two buoys were gone.

Floating lines with no buoys posed a threat to boat motors, he said.

Two days earlier, members of Blue Water Divers were at the Xing Da , sunk May 15 at Eastern Blue Cut about six miles off Dockyard, and the buoys were in place.

Blue Water managing director Michael Burke said it made no sense for someone to cut the buoys because the Xing Da can be located via the Global Positioning System.

He also said the two missing ones were eventually to be replaced with permanent markers.

The disappearance of the buoys comes about two weeks after a group of commercial fishermen attempted to stop the ship's sinking. They say the sinking of the Xing Da will harm the reef and affect migrating fish.

Fishermen allegedly tried to cut a tow rope as a tug pulled the freighter out.

On May 22, Environment Minister Irving Pearman announced that a 200-meter-radius protected area had been established around the Xing Da . The main effect of the order, issued under The Fisheries Protected Areas Order, is to prohibit fishing of any sort, including spearfishing and lobster diving.

DIVING SEA