SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, THE STANDARD (Hong Kong), BBC NEWS (UK)
HONG KONG - A large-scale rescue search is still looking for potential survivors after two ferries collided southwest of Hong Kong on Monday night, leaving at least 36 people dead, Hong Kong’s The Standard reports.
"All of Hong Kong's emergency forces are focused here," Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told BBC News. "Wide-ranging rescue work is being carried out in the sea, on land and in the air."
One of the boats involved in the accident, the Lamma IV ferry, was taking more than 120 people -- mainly employees of Hongkong Electric and their family members -- to watch fireworks display in celebration of China’s National Day, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reports.
It collided at very high speed with a Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry headed for Lamma Island at around 8.30pm, in what is considered the deadliest boat accident in Hong Kong in forty years.
Leung Chun-ying promised an investigation into the accident. Police already arrested six crew members from the two vessels on suspicion of endangering the safety of others at sea.
