News / International
Ferry sinks after colliding with tug boat
01 Oct 2012 at 15:56hrs | Views
Hong Kong - More than 30 people were injured in a collision between a ferry and a tug boat which threw scores of people into the sea off Hong Kong on Monday, police said.
The government said around 120 people were on board the vessels, of whom 101 had been rescued.
Search and rescue teams rushed to the scene of the accident off Lamma island around 20:30 (12:20 GMT) as the city celebrated its mid-autumn festival with a massive fireworks display, a police spokesperson said.
"The information we have now is that at least 32 persons were sent to hospital... The rescue is still ongoing," the spokesperson told AFP.
Hong Kong chief Leung Chun-ying said the government had mobilised all its resources to respond to the accident.
"All our emergency rescue teams are concentrated there... We can see that bit by bit, the people in the water are being rescued," he told reporters at a pier where the injured were being put into ambulances.
Police said the cause of the accident was not known.
The government said around 120 people were on board the vessels, of whom 101 had been rescued.
Search and rescue teams rushed to the scene of the accident off Lamma island around 20:30 (12:20 GMT) as the city celebrated its mid-autumn festival with a massive fireworks display, a police spokesperson said.
"The information we have now is that at least 32 persons were sent to hospital... The rescue is still ongoing," the spokesperson told AFP.
Hong Kong chief Leung Chun-ying said the government had mobilised all its resources to respond to the accident.
"All our emergency rescue teams are concentrated there... We can see that bit by bit, the people in the water are being rescued," he told reporters at a pier where the injured were being put into ambulances.
Police said the cause of the accident was not known.
Source - AFP
