EIGHT Chinese vessels and a Government Flying Services helicopter were early this morning searching for six crew members from a dredger which sank off Coloane Island, Macau. Fourteen others from the Belgian-registered Maas, engaged on reclamation work for the new Macau airport, were rescued. Reports received in Hong Kong early this morning said none of the survivors was hurt. Their nationalities were not known. The operation was mounted at about 8.30 pm when the Marine Department's Rescue Co-ordination Centre received a message that the dredger had gone down. The message was relayed to the Guangdong Rescue Co-ordination Centre and eight ships were despatched from Zhuhai. At about 9 pm, Hong Kong received a second message from another dredger in the vicinity reporting that it had rescued 11 of the crew. The Guangdong Rescue Co-ordination Centre informed Hong Kong that it found three.
