SHANGHAI • Mention the Titanic and many think of the hit 1997 movie adaptation of the disaster that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

But few know the true story of six Chinese survivors.

Their ordeal surfaces in a documentary film - The Six: The Untold Story Of RMS Titanic's Chinese Passengers - by British film-maker Arthur Jones.

The Titanic sank after it hit an iceberg during its 1912 maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

There were an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew on board and more than 1,500 died.

According to the China.org.cn portal, the six Chinese survivors eventually made it to the United States, but the nation's then Chinese Exclusion Act meant they had to leave within 24 hours.

Since 2015, Jones and his team have conducted research, including visiting places like Cuba and Canada to track the survivors, in a bid to develop a waterproof story to factually anchor the movie.

It is slated to be launched in China later this year.