An incident on yesterday morning's Discovery Bay Ferry serves to highlight safety concerns I have previously held.
It is an acknowledged fact by all who travel on the Discovery Bay ferries that the crew do not speak any English.
The safety cards in each seat pocket advise that, in an emergency passengers should follow the instructions of the boat crew.
Most messages are broadcast over the speakers in both Chinese and English by way of pre-recorded tapes. However, if there is any information for which a standard tape is not available, the crew announce in Chinese only, leaving the non-Chinese-speaking passengers wondering what is going on.
Yesterday, DB No. 5 left Discovery Bay at 7am in fairly heavy fog.
Some 15 minutes into the journey the engines were suddenly stopped and the boat started a severe turning manoeuvre.