Developing | Search under way for crew of fishing boat sunk after oil tanker crash near Hong Kong waters
- Vessels collided 1.8km south of Lamma Island at about 8.45am
- Tanker’s crew searched in their own small boat, to no avail
An air and sea search was under way near Hong Kong waters on Tuesday morning after a fishing boat collided with an oil tanker and sank.
A law enforcement source said the fishing boat sank quickly after the collision and it was unclear what type of boat it was and how many people had been on board at the time of the incident.
The smash happened 1.8km outside Hong Kong’s maritime border at about 8.45am.
“The fishing boat sank after the collision,” a police spokesman said.
None of the 13 crew members on the 97-metre tanker, a mainland Chinese-registered vessel called Tian Yi 5, was injured. The boat was travelling from Qingdao to Shenzhen.
Three of the crew searched for the other boat in their own small vessel before emergency crews arrived.
By noon, four police launches and six speedboats had joined the operation, overseen by the Marine Department’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre. The Fire Services Department and the Marine Department also sent boats.
After a four-hour search that proved fruitless, the 10 police boats returned to Hong Kong waters and carried out a sea surface search near the maritime border, the source said.
The Government Flying Service said a helicopter was deployed in the search and rescue operation. As of 3pm, the search was continuing.
The withdrawal of police boats came as mainland authorities had taken charge of the operation at the scene with the deployment of three law enforcement boats, according to the source.
He said the Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration would investigate the cause of the accident.
