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Accidents and personal safety
Hong KongTransport

Dangerous conditions including zero visibility for Hong Kong divers searching oily, wreckage-strewn cargo holds for 2 missing Vietnamese sailors in blast-hit tanker

  • Damaged holds of stricken Aulac Fortune filled with murky water, twisted metal and other debris, photos show
  • Two crewmen, aged 34 and 57, had not been found by Thursday evening

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Some of the cargo holds are filled with three metres of water and there is zero visibility at the bottom because of oil pollution. Photo: Fire Services Department
Clifford Lo
Hong Kong divers were searching for two missing Vietnamese sailors on Thursday in greasy, wreckage-strewn water with zero visibility. The divers were negotiating the dangerous cargo hold of a listing and burned-out oil tanker, following explosions and a fire that killed a crew member and injured seven.

The search, which included elite firefighters from the high-angle rescue team, resumed in the morning after it was suspended at about 9pm on Wednesday.

As of midnight on Thursday, the two crewmen, aged 34 and 57, had not been found, local authorities said. The search was continuing.

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The blasts happened on Tuesday as some of the 25 crewmen were preparing for refuelling operations on board the 144-metre Aulac Fortune – a Vietnamese-registered tanker – off Lamma Island.

Elite firefighters from the high-angle rescue team joined the search. Photo: Fire Services Department
Elite firefighters from the high-angle rescue team joined the search. Photo: Fire Services Department
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Photographs of the search operation released by the fire department showed a damaged cargo hold filled with murky water, twisted metal and other debris.

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