Rescuers are searching for 11 crew members missing after their cargo ship collided with a large container vessel and sank just off the southeastern edge of Hong Kong early Monday morning, according to police.
Fishing boats nearby rescued one injured crew member from the sunken cargo ship, a police spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal. The survivor told authorities there were 11 others aboard the ship.
The 97m cargo vessel Zhong Xing 2 was carrying cement from Hebei Province from Haikou in Hainan Province at the time of the collision, according to the Hong Kong Marine Department. The larger ship involved in the collision was a Marshall Islands-registered container ship, the MOL Motivator, which was sailing from Hong Kong to nearby Shenzhen. The MOL Motivator, which was built in 2011 and is 302m long, has continued to a Shenzhen port.
"Firemen and marine police have been dispatched to waters near Po Toi Island for search and rescue efforts," the police spokeswoman said, noting the collision took place outside Hong Kong's waters.
Po Toi Island is in the southern tip of Hong Kong waters several kilometres from urban Hong Kong Island.
The waters around Hong Kong contain some of the world's busiest shipping routes, with cargo and passenger vessels crisscrossing the channels to outlying islands and mainland China. Many ships travel near Hong Kong to reach neighbouring Pearl River Delta, southern China's industrial hub.
Heavy shipping traffic has contributed to more accidents involving injuries or deaths in recent years. According to data from the city's Marine Department, 171 people were injured or killed in shipping accidents in or near Hong Kong waters last year. That is down from 232 in 2012, but up from 78 people in 2010.
Still, experts say Hong Kong remains one of the world's safest maritime hubs given tough regulations on ship maintenance and port management.
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