70 injured in Macau high-speed ferry crash
A HIGH-SPEED ferry crash on the Hong Kong to Macau route yesterday left 70 people injured, according to Macau’s health authorities.
Officials said the hydrofoil, operated by Hong Kong-based Shun Tak Holdings Limited, hit the southern embankment near Macau’s Outer Harbor terminal about 9:30am.
Officials with Macau’s governmental agencies and Shun Tak told a press conference in Macau yesterday afternoon that the vessel was carrying 220 passengers and 13 crew members.
A press release issued by the Macau Health Bureau said 45 males and 25 females aged between 17 to 69 were injured in the crash.
They include four Macau residents, 59 Hong Kong residents, four South Korean nationals, two Thai nationals and one Japanese national.
The injured include nine crew members.
The health authority said the 70 all sustained minor injuries and were all sent to hospital for treatment.
The Health Bureau said it will monitor the situation and inform the public in due course.
This is the third accident on the Hong Kong-Macau ferry route in the past eight months.
In November, a high-speed ferry hit an “unidentified object” near one of Hong Kong’s small outlying islands, injuring 87 people.
And last month a Hong Kong-bound Macau ferry collided with a vessel from China’s mainland, leaving 33 injured.
Fears over maritime safety in Hong Kong were sparked after a fatal collision between a passenger ferry and a pleasure boat carrying 120 people claimed 39 lives in October 2012.
It was the city’s worst maritime disaster in decades and shocked the financial hub, which prides itself on its safety record.
An inquiry found a “litany of errors” and “systematic failings” in the marine department’s safety standards.
Fatal boat accidents are rare in Hong Kong, despite its crowded waterways.
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