How tragic Hong Kong boat collision in 1927 claimed more than 100 lives
While first-class passengers escaped, those travelling steerage found themselves locked below-deck by piracy prevention measures
“River steamer sunk”, ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on May 11, 1927.
“Further details were gleaned yesterday of the collision which occurred on Monday night [May 9] in Capsuimun Pass between the launch Moonshine and the steamer Leung Kwong, in which a number of lives, at present unascertained, were lost,” the story continued.
The collision occurred when the boats were navigating the pass between Lantau Island and Park Island.
A report on May 12 stated, “A conservative estimate places the number of victims at seventy [...] Practically all the first class passengers were saved [...] the death toll is mainly confined to those [in] steerage.”
On May 13, more details came to light. “The moral of the tragic sinking of the steamer Leung Kwong […] is so painfully, distressingly obvious that it seems unnecessary to comment. Quite half of the deaths were due to the fact that the unfortunate passengers were trapped like rats by the locked grilles, designed but yet to win against pirates.”