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Hong Kong ferry passenger search after Lamma collision | Hong Kong ferry passenger search after Lamma collision |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A rescue operation is under way for passengers missing after two boats collided off Hong Kong, injuring more than 20 people, police say. | |
One of the boats was carrying 124 passengers and half-sank after Monday night's collision near Lamma island. | |
Search teams had rescued more than 100 people from the water, local media reported. | |
More than 20 injured people had been taken to a hospital on Lamma island, a police spokesman was quoted as saying. | |
Lamma lies some three kilometres (two miles) south-west of Hong Kong island, and is popular with tourists and expatriates. | Lamma lies some three kilometres (two miles) south-west of Hong Kong island, and is popular with tourists and expatriates. |
The crash happened around 2030 (1230 GMT) on Monday. | |
It came during a busy period for passenger travel in Hong Kong, at the end of a long holiday weekend to mark the mid-autumn festival that this year coincides with China's National Day on 1 October. | |
Power company Hong Kong Electric was reportedly using a commercial boat to take 124 staff and family to watch National Day fireworks in Victoria Harbour. | |
The vessel and another boat - reportedly a ferry operated by Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry - collided, causing the HK Electric vessel to list, a company official was quoted as saying. | |
One survivor told The South China Morning Post: "After 10 minutes out a boat crashed into ours from the side at very high speed. The rear... started to sink. I suddenly found myself deep under the sea. | |
"I swam hard and tried to grab a life buoy," added the man. "I don't know where my two kids are." | |
Hong Kong is one of the world's busiest shipping channels. | Hong Kong is one of the world's busiest shipping channels. |