Officials check
on a half-submerged boat after it collided Monday night near Lamma Island, off
the southwestern coast of Hong Kong Island Tuesday Oct. 2, 2012. The boat
packed with revelers on a long holiday weekend collided with a ferry and sank
off Hong Kong, killing at least 36 people and injuring dozens, authorities
said. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
( October 2,
2012, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) A
boat packed with revelers on a long holiday weekend collided with a ferry and
sank off Hong Kong, killing at least 36 people and injuring dozens in the
deadliest accident to strike the Chinese territory in years.
The boat was
carrying utility company workers and their families to famed Victoria Harbour
to watch a fireworks display in celebration of China’s National Day and
mid-autumn festival. The two vessels collided Monday night near Lamma Island
off the southwestern coast of Hong Kong Island.
The government
said 36 bodies had been recovered as of Tuesday morning and the search was made
difficult by low visibility and obstacles on the boat. Details about the
victims were not given, though local outlet RTHK reported some of the dead were
children.
More than 100
people were rescued and sent to hospitals, and nine had serious or critical
injuries, the government’s statement said. At least one person appeared to be
missing, according to government figures.
Such large-scale
accidents are rare for Hong Kong, a semiautonomous enclave off mainland China
that has one of Asia’s most advanced infrastructures and economies with
first-rate public services.
The tragedy is
also the latest test for the new administration of Hong Kong’s
Beijing-installed chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who rushed to the pier
where rescue work was taking place.
Leung’s July
inauguration was greeted by protests, and opposition by students and their
parents against the proposed teaching of China-influenced patriotic history
forced his government to back off the plan last month.
‘‘All of Hong
Kong’s emergency forces are focused here,’’ Leung said earlier. ‘‘Wide-ranging
rescue work is being carried out on in the sea, land and in the air.’’ Leung
said he didn’t know what caused the collision but promised a thorough
investigation.
After daybreak,
the boat was half submerged with its bow pointing almost straight up. A barge
was tied alongside it, apparently to stabilize the sunken boat and keep it from
tipping further.
Hong Kong fire
services had deployed seven boats, including one to support diving operations,
and more than 200 rescue personnel, the government said. Four rescue boats and
a team of divers also were dispatched from the mainland Chinese province of
Guangdong just across the border, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
‘‘There was a
boat that came in close and crashed,’’ said Yuen Sui-see, director of
operations at Power Assets Holdings Ltd., which was using the vessel to take
staff on the outing. ‘‘After the crash, the other boat continued away, it
didn’t stop.’’ He denied the vessel was overloaded, saying it was carrying 121
passengers and three crew but had capacity for more than 200 passengers.
Local news
reports said the boat was hit by a ferry operated by the Hong Kong and Kowloon
Ferry company on a regularly scheduled service. RTHK said the ferry captain was
afraid to stop in case it sank, too, and returned to port safely. Local TV
later showed images of the ferry, with its bow chewed up and chunks missing.
Survivors said
the boat started sinking rapidly after the collision. One woman told local
television that she swallowed a lot of water as she swam back to shore. Another
man said he didn’t know where his children were. Neither gave their names.
Lamma is the
third-biggest island in Hong Kong and near one of the coastal Chinese city’s
busiest shipping lanes. The island is home to about 6,000 people, including
many of the former British colony’s expatriate workers. - Agencies
