Hong Kong maritime police are currently searching for the crew of a fishing vessel that collided with an oil tanker sometime before 9am this morning, with none of those on board the boat so far reported found, according to a spokesman.
A police representative told Coconuts HK that the collision between the tanker and the fishing boat took place near Lamma Island, and was reported at 8:43am.
“The location where the collision occurred was outside of Hong Kong waters,” the spokesperson said. “There were 13 people on the oil vessel, and they have all been rescued. As for how many people on the fishing boat, we’re not sure yet.”
As of the last update from the scene, they added, none of the crew of the fishing vessel had been rescued.
The spokesperson said they did not know the names of the vessels involved as of press time, adding that it was unknown whether there was any leakage from the oil tanker.
In a photo from the scene, the name of the tanker appears to be Tian Yi 5. A China-flagged tanker with that name was recently recorded as being in the waters off of Hong Kong, not far from Lamma, by the ship-tracking website FleetMon.
In a tweet, the Hong Kong Police Force noted that it was at the scene “conducting search & rescue operation together with other departments.”
A case of collision of vessels occurred outside HK waters near Lamma Island this morning. @hkpoliceforce are now conducting search & rescue operation together with other departments thereat.
今早在南丫島對開，香港範圍以外的海面發生一宗撞船意外，香港水警與其他部門正協助搜救行動。 pic.twitter.com/XtHWbCSLgz
— Hong Kong Police Force (@hkpoliceforce) March 12, 2019
The collision comes just two months after an oil tanker caught fire off the coast of Lamma, resulting in one man’s death and two more men being declared missing.
Updates to come.
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