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Investigations into sinking of pleasure vessel continue
The Marine Department is continuing its investigations into the incident in which a pleasure vessel with four persons on board sank near Tung Chung, North Lantau around 12.30 am on December 25, a Marine Department spokesman said today (Wednesday).
It was reported that the pleasure vessel collided with an unknown object or a private mooring near the Brothers.
Marine Department records show that the pleasure vessel is an outboard motor cruiser of 7.3 metres long, fitted with a 255 horsepower outboard petrol engine capable of cruising at a maximum speed of about 35 knots.
The department this afternoon interviewed the owner of the vessel, who holds a valid master certificate for this type of vessels.
Investigations also revealed that the four persons on board the pleasure vessel at the material time were not holding master and engineer certificates for this type of vessels.
The spokesman pointed out that private moorings in the area were assigned to vessels engaged in various airport core programme projects.
"All private moorings in Hong Kong waters are not required to be fitted with lights as they are always away from all shipping lanes," he said.
"Nevertheless since the beginning of this month, the department has broadcast at hourly intervals a navigational warning concerning unlit buoys in the area."
The buoy in question together with other such buoys in the area have recently been repainted with highly visible paint.
In response to suggestions put forth by the Marine Police, the department has taken a series of action which included the removal of one illegal mooring buoy.
"Contractors have been instructed to make sure that the lights on marker buoys are properly displayed and owners of all unlit mooring buoys have been instructed to repaint the buoys with highly visible paint," the spokesman said.
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