More Than a Dozen Missing
(Reuters) – Divers searched through the night for more than a dozen people missing after a ferry carrying more than 120 passengers sank south of Hong Kong after a collision with a tugboat late on Monday, a government spokeswoman said.
She said 101 people had been rescued so far off Lamma island, an area popular with tourists and expatriates.
Television pictures showed the red and blue bow of the ferry pointing skyward, surrounded by rescue vessels as government helicopters with search lights circled overhead.
The ferry, belonging to The Hongkong Electric Company, was carrying company staff and family members on an evening cruise to watch fireworks at Victoria Harbour.
“Our ferry left Lamma island at 8.15 pm to watch the fireworks display out at sea, but within a few minutes, a tugboat smashed into our vessel,” a spokesman for the company told Hong Kong television.
Article courtesy of Reuters.
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn, Donny Kwok and Stefanie McIntyre; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Janet Lawrence)
Image courtesy of REUTERS/Tyrone Siu.
