An eerie 'ghost ship' ran aground on a beach during a storm in Cambodia.

The empty vessel was washed ashore by strong winds and waves battering the coast near Koh Tang island in the province of Preah Sihanouk on July 12 evening.

Authorities scoured the shoreline for signs of its occupants the following morning, but the search yielded no results. However, they found three lifejackets discarded on rocks some 50 metres away from the wreckage.

Officials have not yet been able to board the still-unidentified ship due to rough seas. It was left on the beach pending towing while they wait for the weather to settle down.

Local coastguard Sopheap San said: 'At first we were not able to get close enough to the ship to check its markings. There was no sign of which country it came from.

'We have informed ships in the area to keep watch for any missing crew. They could be in a lifeboat or floating in the sea.'

Staff from the Koh Tang Observation Force inspected the shipwreck this morning, July 14, and searched for anyone who had washed up further along the coast. They believe the vessel was registered in China.

They said today that the crew and captain had still not been found.

A ghost ship is a vessel that has been abandoned. The ship could also have been scrapped and came loose from a boat yard.

Coastguard Sopheap San said that the ship had been reported to police. Cambodia is a prolific gateway used by Chinese gangsters to smuggle meth from labs in Myanmar into the rest of the Asia Pacific region to wealthy countries such as Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.