Eight mainland fishermen clung to wooden debris in rough seas for about 15 hours before being rescued by a passing container ship outside Hong Kong waters yesterday morning.
Another crew member is still missing. A Government Flying Service (GFS) plane will today resume searching east of Waglan Island in international waters east of Hong Kong.
The survivors claimed they were thrown into the sea when their fishing boat collided with an unknown vessel at about 6pm on Tuesday. Their boat later sank. A search and rescue operation was launched at about 9am yesterday when the crew of a passing Singapore-registered container ship - Hon Chun - discovered the eight mainlanders 69 nautical miles east of Waglan Island and radioed the Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre to seek help.
'The eight surviving victims were found drifting in rough seas and they were clinging to wooden debris to stay afloat. They were plucked out of the water and brought on board the container ship,' a spokesman for the Marine Department said.
Two of the fishermen, aged 30 and 40, were treated in hospital. A government spokeswoman said one of them sustained injuries to his chest and the other complained of breathing difficulties.
A helicopter was deployed to the scene and airlifted the two injured men to Eastern Hospital. The other crew members were ferried into the territory by the container ship yesterday afternoon.
