TNAG-1449-FCO40-1953-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 255

Revised Question No. 11

REPLY BY THE HON. MR. MICHAEL THOMAS, CMG, QC, ATTORNEY GENERAL

TO A QUESTION FROM THE HON. LYDIA DUNN, CBE, JP

IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL MEETING ON 12 MARCH, 1986

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QUESTION

What steps have the Government taken to implement the recommendation of the Marine Court of Inquiry into the loss of the Osprey dated 30 July 1984 that there was an urgent need for an independent Search and Rescue Centre to be established in Hong Kong in order to save lives and property in distress at sea?

REPLY

It is true that consideration of this important

recommendation has taken longer than the Government would

have liked. But we are nearly there.

Following publication of the report, the Secretary

for Security promptly established a Working Group to study

the Court's recommendations. The Working Group comprised

representatives from the Marine Department, Civil Aviation

Department, Economic Services Branch, the Royal Hong Kong

Auxiliary Air Force, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force

and the Marine Police.

The Working Group has since endorsed the implementation

of all the other recommendations of the Court relating to

search and rescue. But the Working Group's study of the

court's recommendation for the establishment of an

independent search and rescue centre has been protracted

because of the many important issues involved and because the

/findings

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