Haikou, Oct 13 (IANS): China's Hainan province initiated emergency procedures Sunday morning as Typhoon Nari is expected to arrive near the Xisha Islands by Monday.

The centre of the typhoon was located at 15.3 north latitude and 114.2 east longitude, 260 km southeast from Hainan's Sansha city (Xisha Islands) at 11 a.m. Sunday, with speed of the wind up to 137 km per hour.

It moved westward at a speed of 15 km per hour, said the Hainan provincial meteorological station.

Around 27,000 fishing boats were called back to port in the morning.

All fishermen of Yongle Islands were relocated to Jinqing Island. The typhoon is forecast to hit hard at this place.

The National Marine Environmental Forecasting Centre has raised the emergency response of level two, forecasting waves up to 10 metres in the South China Sea and between 2.5 and 3.5 metres on the east and south coasts of Hainan province Sunday noon.

Earlier, at least 12 people were killed Saturday and three others were missing as Typhoon Nari continued to batter the northern part of Philippines.