Add Your Photos and Video to This Story

Sailors Trapped in Sunken Tugboat

by jordan | March 23, 2008 at 10:22 am | 390 views | 2 comments

A Ukranian tugboat sunk off the coast of Hong Kong and is now lying upside-down 35 meters (115 ft) below the surface. Rescue crews are attempting to move the vessel to shallower waters in hopes of rescuing anyone still alive onboard.

Update: no further word on the fate of the 18 sailors who went down with the tugboat.

Director of Marine Department Roger Tupper said the sailors were trapped in the hull of the ship and could still be alive if they found an air pocket inside their vessel.

However, he said rescue divers had knocked on the boat and did not hear the sailors signal back.

Divers made nine attempts to rescue the trapped sailors but were hindered by strong currents and poor visibility, the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

The Ukrainian tugboat Neftegaz, which was on its way to an oil field south of Hong Kong, collided with Chinese-registered cargo ship Yao Hai late Saturday in waters northwest of Hong Kong's outlying Lantau island, Tupper said.

He said six Ukrainians and a Chinese citizen were rescued from the tugboat and efforts were continuing to find the others.

Add a comment Comments (2)

jordan
BREAKING:

This is a developing story, and will now show up on the home page for four hours. If new developments justify it, I'll renew this flag for another cycle.

PEP
good stuff:

jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff. Fast, too!

Add a comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

March 23, 2008 at 10:22 am by jordan, 390 views, 2 comments

closeSign in to NowPublic

is reporting from