Updated story from SCMP:
(all major newspapers have been sold out this morning in Yung Shue Wan and the published SCMP story was from around 2am. Story updated below at noon today):
36 confirmed dead in ferry collision off Lamma Island
At least 36 dead after an evening cruise to watch the National Day fireworks celebration ends in tragedy
Tuesday, 02 October, 2012, 12:00am
Joyce Ng, Stuart Lau, Danny Mok and Ada Lee
At least 36 people died after two ferries collided off Lamma Island on Monday night, throwing more than 100 passengers into choppy waters and triggering a massive rescue effort.
“Twenty eight were certified dead at the scene while eight others were certified dead upon arrival at hospitals,” the government said in a statement, raising the death toll by 11 from Monday night’s incident.
Some 124 people on the Lamma IV, a vessel owned by Hongkong Electric, were thrown into waters near Yung Shue Wan when it was hit by a passenger ferry travelling from Central.
Rescuers pulled 123 out of the water, said acting deputy director of fire services, James Ng Kuen-chi, who confirmed the death toll at 5am on Tuesday.
The accident happened at 8.23pm when the power company's boat was heading to Central with staff and their families to watch the National Day fireworks display. The vessel was half sunk in the water with the bow pointing up at an angle of 90 degrees.
The Hospital Authority confirmed at midnight that eight of 53 people admitted to four hospitals were dead.
A man brought ashore at the pier near South Horizons in Aberdeen said:
"After 10 minutes out a boat crashed into ours from the side at very high speed. The rear of the ferry started to sink. I suddenly found myself deep under the sea. I swam hard and tried to grab a life buoy.
I don't know where my two kids are."
Another woman at the pier said: "I swam for a long time to reach the surface and swallowed a lot of water. Then I found a rescue boat."
Some of those rescued were taken to Queen Mary, Ruttonjee, Queen Elizabeth, and Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospitals for treatment, with some on stretchers and unconscious.
Rescue workers try to board the stricken ferry in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Photo: Sam Tsang
While they earlier waited for ambulances at the Ap Lei Chau pier, they were wrapped with blankets or aluminium foil to keep warm. A paramedic at Queen Mary Hospital said some of the survivors were suffering hypothermia and four had to be resuscitated.
Without naming Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry, Yuen Sui-see, Hong Kong Electric's director of operations, blamed the other vessel for the tragedy.
"The ferry rammed the side of our boat. They didn't bother and just left," he said.
Yuen said the power company's captain was experienced and sailed in the waters daily. He said there was no problem with safety or overloading as it was able to carry 200 passengers.
A spokeswoman for Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry said the ferry was arriving at Lamma from Central. She said no one on that ferry fell into the sea but a few passengers had sought treatment at a Lamma clinic.
"Relevant government departments are making all-out efforts to rescue people who fell into the sea after the collision.
"Senior officials and I will closely monitor the situation. We will do whatever we can," he said.
After visiting victims in Queen Mary Hospital at 1am, he said the government emergency co-ordination centre had started operations and was focused on searching for the missing. He had met HK Electric management.
"We must thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident."
In an unusual appearance, Li Gang, a deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, went to the hospital with Leung and offered his condolences.
"We are deeply sorry about the dead citizens," Li said.
He said he would liaise with Guangdong and request them to send salvage ships.
It was the second National Day calamity after a 15-year-old boy was swept away in Shek O and drowned and another was missing.
RTHK News