Asia's largest floating derrick will arrive in Hong Kong today to lift a Ukrainian tugboat that sank in waters off Tuen Mun last month.
The Hua Tian Long would arrive early this afternoon, three days earlier than planned, a Marine Services Department spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman and a representative of the Guangzhou Salvage Bureau, which owns the derrick, did not say why it was arriving early.
Ukrainian tugboat the Neftegaz-67 collided with the mainland-registered Yaohai cargo ship near The Brothers islands on March 22 and sank. Seven sailors from the tugboat were saved, three bodies have been recovered and 15 sailors remain unaccounted for.
With the Hua Tian Long due to arrive today, the tugboat - lying on the seabed at a depth of 37 metres - could be raised by Sunday.
A schedule published by the Ukrainian Transportation and Communications Ministry shows divers are due to spend three days after the derrick arrives attaching heavy- lifting cables to the tugboat before raising it on the fourth day.
Yulia Vorzhenskaya, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian delegation in Hong Kong, said divers were still searching for those missing and would continue to do so until the tugboat was raised.