The captain of a container ship involved in a collision with a dredger off Hong Kong in which eight seamen died told a judicial inquiry into the accident yesterday the two vessels had agreed on how to pass each other just three minutes before they crashed.
Muhammad Sarwar, captain of the Singapore-registered container ship Kota Hadiah, told Eastern Court the dredger A. M. Vella had changed its light signals several times and had altered course after the agreement to pass 'port-to-port' had been made.
The hearing heard the 13,000-tonne Kota Hadiah left from Shekou on the mainland heading for Singapore. On March 12 it entered Hong Kong waters off Tap Shek Kok, North Lantau, when Hong Kong harbour pilot Howard Lau Hon-kwong boarded the vessel.
The Hong Kong-registered A. M. Vella, with 15 crew, had completed dredging mud from Kwai Chung Terminal Four and was taking it to a Chek Lap Kok dumping site, the inquiry heard.
But the two vessels collided west of Ma Wan, which the inquiry was told was an accident black spot for marine traffic. The A. M. Vella sank and six Russian and two Hong Kong crew members died. Four of the bodies were recovered the next day but the other four have not been found.
The Kota Hadiah, which had 23 crew members, was only slightly damaged and none of the crew members were injured.
