Father and son flee boat blaze
A 42-year-old man and his son, 22, had to abandon their boat and jump into sea when the vessel, carrying a cargo of motorcycles, caught fire off Sai Kung early yesterday.
The pair initially fought the blaze with portable extinguishers when it broke out in the engine room of the 18-metre wooden vessel off Fan Tsang Chau at 3.30am.
They each grabbed a life buoy and jumped into the water when they were unable to put the fire out. They were later picked up by a Marine Police launch.
Firemen spent about two hours dousing the flames and the vessel later sank.
The Hong Kong-registered boat was loaded with about 150 second-hand motorcycles and was heading towards Shataukok at the time of the incident. Investigations showed the blaze started when an exhaust pipe apparently overheated and burst into flames in the engine room.
About 200 kindergarten pupils at the St Nicholas Kindergarten in Cumberland Road, Kowloon Tong, were evacuated when a second-storey storeroom campus caught fire at 9.45am.
