EVENING STANDARD, TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1971-3
THE HONGKONG-TO-MACAO ferry Fatshan lies on her side in 30ft. of water in Hongkong harbour after capsizing under the force of 130 m.p.h. winds from Typhoon Rose. Between 75 and 80 people died when they were trapped in the hull
80 feared dead as Typhoon Rose capsizes ferry
HONGKONG, Tuesday. ROYAL NAVY frogmen were racing against time today to find survivors in- side the overturned ferry Fat Shan capsized by giant waves as she sheltered from Typhoon Rose, Hong Kong's worst for three years.
As many as 80 crewmen are thought to have drowned as the Fat Shan turned turtle and sank in 30ft. of water off Hongkong's Lan Tao island.
Only four survivors have been found. The rest of the crew including the 69-year-old master Captain L L. Price, of Holyhead, Wales we thought to have been trapped inside at the Show's First Word of the ferry disaster came from the British minesweeper Kirkliston. which reported picking up the sur- vivors.
The Fat Shan, the mine- sweeper's crew said, was lying on its side and only partly visible above the water.
The Shun Tak shipping com- pany, which operates the Fat Shan between Hongkong and the Portuguese island of Macao, 40 miles away, said nothing had been heard of the boat since it left a wharf to anchor in har- bour before the typhoon struck. A large crew had remained on
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board for the night because many lived in Macho and had nowhere to stay in Hongkong.
Search
The Kirkliston docked briefly here this afternoon to land 51 people--four of them injured- picked up from ships which ran into trouble.
Then she resumed the search for more survivors. The was joined by two other British navy minesweepers, the Hubberston
three
and Bossington, and British air force helicopters.
Sailors aboard the Kirkliston said the Fatshan looked like a "marine junkyard.”
Ten ship were up on the beach, high and dry around her and would probably get clear at the next high tide. Another freighter was part on the beach and part submerged.
Another ferryboat, the $3 Macao, ran aground just outside the harbour. Her engine-room was reported flooded.
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