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Ukrainian sailors missing off HK Ukrainian sailors missing off HK
(about 15 hours later)
Eighteen Ukrainian sailors are missing after their boat sank off the Hong Kong coast in a collision with a Chinese cargo ship overnight on Saturday. Hopes are fading for 18 Ukrainian sailors trapped underwater since their boat sank off Hong Kong after colliding with a Chinese cargo ship on Saturday.
Hong Kong officials said the seamen could still be alive if they had found an air pocket inside the vessel. Hong Kong officials said the seamen could be alive if they had found an air pocket inside the upturned vessel.
But they added that divers who knocked on the hull of the tug, the Naftogaz 67, did not get a return signal. But divers who knocked on the hull of the tug, the Naftogaz 67, did not get a response, they said.
At least six people have been rescued and efforts to find the others are continuing, officials said. Rescuers are working to stabilise and then move the vessel to allow divers better access.
They are thought to be trapped in the vessel's engine room and cabins. Seven people were rescued after the vessel sank, but the remaining 18 are thought to have been trapped in the ship's engine room and cabins.
Strong currentsStrong currents
The Naftogaz 67 collided with the Chinese registered cargo ship Yao Lai late on Saturday near the island of Lantau, The Naftogaz 67 collided with the Chinese-registered cargo ship Yao Lai late on Saturday near the island of Lantau.
It sank almost immediately and is currently on the sea bed at a depth of 37m. It sank almost immediately and is currently on the sea bed at a depth of 37m (120 ft).
Divers took six hours to locate the vessel, which may have been moved by strong currents.Divers took six hours to locate the vessel, which may have been moved by strong currents.
"Much of the effort now of course is to try to get inside that wreck," said Hong Kong marine department director Roger Tupper. Hong Kong marine department director Roger Tupper said efforts were now focused on moving the ship to shallower water so that divers would have a better chance of gaining access.
"We have to get the vessel to shallower water, to enable the divers to have a better environment to operate in, and also to try, because the vessel is upside-down on the sea bed, and move the vessel so as we can get some access into the vessel." But a spokesman for the Guangzhou Salvage Bureau described the sailors' chances of survival as "very slim".
The cause of the collision remains unclear.