Over 100 passengers on board a Cheung Chau-Aberdeen double-decker ferry were evacuated yesterday after the vessel was found to be taking on water.
The incident occurred at around 6pm on Sunday. The ferry, which departed from Cheung Chau bound for Aberdeen, had to make an emergency docking at the Pak Kok Tsuen pier on Lamma Island.
According to passengers, the water seepage caused an electrical shutdown.
A female passenger said that the crew had asked them to put on life vests. “We were all very scared – we didn’t know if the vessel would sink,” she told Apple Daily. Another said that there was difficulty in docking, due to the strong wind and waves.
Passengers were evacuated and transferred to a different ferry. They then continued their journey to Aberdeen.
No injuries were reported.
The Cheung Chau-Aberdeen route, managed by Tsui Wah Ferry Services HK Ltd, had been in operation for two months. Seven ferries depart from Cheung Chau and Aberdeen every day.
Last month, a Lamma Island-Central ferry carrying 30 passengers collided with a mainland steamer. While the vessel’s bow and hull were damaged, no one was injured in the incident.
On National Day in 2012, a Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry-operated Lamma passenger ferry and a Hongkong Electric Company-owned vessel collided off Yung Shue Wan, killing 39 people in one of Hong Kong’s deadliest ferry accidents.
