HONG KONG, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A local hospital in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) confirmed on Saturday that a man died after his fishing boat's collision with a sailing yacht competing in Volvo Ocean Race.
The Chinese mainland-registered fishing boat sunk after colliding with the vessel of American- Danish team Vestas 11th Hour Racing at about 2:30 a.m. local time. Ten fishermen fell into the sea and nine of them were rescued by a mainland rescue vessel with one missing.
The missing fisherman was later saved to the yacht but went unconscious. The Government Flying Service of the Hong Kong SAR sent a helicopter to take the fisherman to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital which declared his death at around 6:30 a.m..
An officer with the Government Flying Service told Xinhua that they received an emergency call at 2:37 a.m. from Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordination Center which reported the collision and claimed the missing fisherman.
The Government Flying Service then dispatched a helicopter to the collision venue, and found that the missing fisherman was saved by the sailing yacht.
Before the collision, the sailing yacht was competing in the fourth leg (Melbourne to Hong Kong) of the around-the-world race and had only 30 nautical miles left to finish.
According to the organizer of the race, all of the crew members of the yacht were safe with limited damage to their boat, and sent SOS radio signal for the fishing boat as well as helped with the rescue after collision.
The organizer expressed their deepest condolences to the family of the victim and promised full cooperation with investigation of Hong Kong authority. Hong Kong police said they are investigating the collision.
