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Heavy-lifting salvage barge Hua Tian Long, known as "Asia's largest floating crane", arrived in Hong Kong waters on April 16 to help salvage Ukrainian logistics ship Neftegas-67, which sunk off Lantau Island on March 22. The salvage mission is expected to take two weeks.
Sent here by Guangzhou Salvage Bureau (which owns and operates the multi-purpose work barge), Hua Tian Long is a 170-metre long, 74-metre tall floating crane capable of lifting up to 4,000 tons.
The huge work barge had to take a round-about course to reach the work site from the west because it is too tall to pass underneath the Ching-Ma Bridge. And it did that under the guidance of a pilot dispatched by Hong Kong's Marine Department.
Marine Department Director Lau Wing-kin told reporters that Hua Tian Long will work nonstop until the mission is completed in about two weeks.
The giant vessel will drop eight anchors at the salvage site first to stay above the sunken ship and seal all her fuel and oil tanks and pipes before lifting her off the bottom of the sea, turning her upright (the Ukrainian ship now lies belly up), pumping water out of her holds and hauling her out of the sea.
Rescue workers from the Fire Services Department and Police experts will then enter the suspended boat to search for bodies of the missing crew members and evidences.
The Ukrainian side will pay for the salvage expenses.
Lau added that a 120-hectare area centered on the salvage site will be closed to maritime traffic with Marine Police guarding the perimeters. He also reminded skippers of passing ships to listen to public radio announcements in the next two weeks.
The deadliest maritime disaster happened on the night of March 22, when the Ukrainian replenishment ship with a crew of 25 sank off the northern coast of Lantau Island after colliding with a Chinese cargo ship. Only seven of the Ukrainian crew were rescued afterwards.
Divers later found the bodies of three other crew members inside the sunken Neftegas-67 and 15 are still listed as missing.
春生 資深翻譯員
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