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HK ends search for missing Ukrainian sailors
29 Mar 2008 07:29:07 GMT
 Source: Reuters
HONG KONG, March 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong authorities have ended a mission to find 15 missing Ukrainian sailors from a sunken tugboat and the focus will shift to recovering the vessel, RTHK reported on its Web site.

Officials called off the search over concerns that probing further inside the vessel could endanger the divers, the report said.

Rescue divers in Hong Kong recovered a third body from the water, in a recovery operation hampered by adverse conditions.

The Ukraine-registered tugboat Neftegaz-67 sank on Saturday and hopes have all but faded that survivors might yet be found within air pockets in the overturned vessel.

The ship sank after colliding with a large Chinese bulk carrier and is now lying on the seabed 37-metres (122 feet) under water.

Of the tugboat's 25 crew, seven members including six Ukrainians and one Chinese were rescued soon after the disaster, which occurred in waters near Hong Kong's Lantau island.

A team of divers had by Friday afternoon carried out more than 50 dives down to the tug, but the recovery operation has been painstakingly slow and hazardous at times, with frogmen trapped by debris and hampered by swift currents.

Authorities plan to deploy one of Asia's largest salvage ships from China to drag the tug off the ocean floor, but officials say this complex process could still take 7-10 days. (Reporting by Joseph Chaney; Editing by David Fogarty)


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