CHINA has refused an offer from Hong Kong to send a patrol boat to search for survivors of a shipwreck, apparently not wanting the Royal Navy to enter its territorial waters.
Seven Chinese sailors are missing after their Belize-registered ship Fairwater sank on Thursday 70 miles along the South China coast, after a collision with what is thought to be a large container ship.
The ship did not stop, leaving crew members to fend for themselves as Tropical Storm Sharon approached. Five were rescued by passing fishing boats.
The Fairwater sank in Chinese waters about 12 miles off the coast, outside Hong Kong's search and rescue region of responsibility.
Marine Department sources said that, unusually, the Guangdong Maritime Rescue Co-ordination had not informed its local counterparts, who instead had found out about the incident through a Hong Kong shipping agent.
The department immediately offered a Royal Navy patrol vessel and a Government Flying Service Super King-Air plane, but were told the rescue mission was already under way.