Hong Kong authorities rescue 13 suspected illegal immigrants stranded on outlying island
- Source familiar with situation previously said police working with Government Flying Service to determine whether they could airlift group stuck on Shek Kwu Chau
- Surrounding reefs and rough sea conditions caused by strong winds had made it difficult for boats to approach island, insider earlier said
Hong Kong authorities have rescued 13 suspected illegal immigrants from Bangladesh trapped on an outlying island.
A source familiar with the rescue operation previously told the Post that police were working with the Government Flying Service on Tuesday morning to determine whether the men could be airlifted from Shek Kwu Chau in southwestern local waters.
“Due to the surrounding reefs and rough sea conditions caused by strong winds, it is difficult for boats to approach and rescue the stranded individuals,” the insider said earlier.
Police said the rescue operation began shortly before 8.30am, when the force received an emergency call from one of the stranded men, who claimed they had arrived in Hong Kong waters from Bangladesh.
“The caller said there were 13 men stranded on an island and needed police assistance,” a force spokeswoman said. “They claimed they did not have any food and water, but they were uninjured.”
The Government Flying Service rescued them at around 2.30pm, according to authorities.
Separately, police were called to the fishing village of Tai O on Lantau Island at around 10.15am on Tuesday after a 47-year-old hiker found a group of six to seven people suspected of entering the city illegally.
The force said the group was first spotted at a location near Yi O.
Around 11am, officers intercepted a Pakistani man at Nam Chung Tsuen in the Tai O area and arrested him on suspicion of illegal entry to Hong Kong.
About an hour later, police also stopped and searched an Indian man outside Tung Chung MTR station on Lantau Island. He was arrested for allegedly entering the city illegally after he was unable to present a valid identification document.
The force said officers were still searching the island at around 1pm.
Hong Kong police arrest 28 men on island on suspicion of illegal entry to city
The cases followed a string of arrests of people from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan on suspicion of illegal entry in four separate incidents over the past 10 days.
On Saturday, police arrested 28 men – 18 from Bangladesh, seven from India and three from Pakistan – on Po Toi Island.
The force also detained 28 Bangladeshi nationals on Waglan Island the day before who were alleged to have come to Hong Kong illegally.
South Asia to Hong Kong: route via mainland ‘popular’ with undocumented entrants
Last Monday, police arrested 10 Pakistani men and a mainland Chinese person after their boat was intercepted at Deep Bay in the northwestern waters of the city.
Nine Pakistani men were also arrested on October 22 after they were found stranded on a deserted island – Shue Long Chau – in Sai Kung.
A force insider at the time said the group of nine had first flow from Pakistan to Urumqi, the capital of mainland Xinjiang region, on October 18 before taking another flight to Guangzhou and then travelling to Shenzhen.
The men later took a small boat to Hong Kong and arrived in local waters on October 20 and were stranded on the island without food and water for two days.
Police figures show 848 people suspected of illegally entering the city were arrested in the first nine months this year, including 266 from Vietnam, 244 from the mainland, 183 from Bangladesh and 112 Pakistanis.
