Panicked survivors driven by sheer will to live and to pull through the ordeal: Diver

First responders to the Hong Kong Electric ferry disaster, which claimed 38 lives on Monday, described scenes of horror and panic as passengers on board the stricken vessel blew the whistles on their flotation devices and wailed in terror, fighting desperately for their lives.

The first emergency call came in at 8:23pm. The first rescuers arrived less than 17 minutes later. The cabin of the Lamma IV was still alight from the ship's generator, recalled Wong Tsz-kin, the first rescue service diver to get there.

But as the vessel sank lower in the water, Wong and his colleagues faced a darkened cabin full of terrified people. "A lot of people were bleeding and they were tense. They kept pulling and grabbing others," he said.

Helicopters of the Government Flying Service and fire vessels were dispatched to lit up the area with spotlights thereafter.

Windows were smashed and Wong, along with a handful of other rescuers, began to pull survivors out, holding himself against the sidewall of the vessel. It was risky. He found himself pulled into the sinking cabin after a chair on the upper deck collapsed, tossing a family of three down onto the lower deck.

Diver Hui Ka-chun described what he saw, resembling a scene from the movie Titanic, "I learned from radio calls that over 90 people had fallen to the sea. What I saw at the scene was still a far cry from what I had imagined. My mind just went blank."

Despite the challenges, both Hui and Wong said they were trained to work amid low visibility and chaos inside sunken vessels. These are experienced divers, who had performed similar missions when dealing with the sinking of a Ukrainian cargo vessel.

Marine Police officer Lee Wai-him saw the bigger picture from a distance. "Most people were wearing life jackets," he said. "Where there was any space inside the cabin, it was filled with people."

Lee was particularly concerned that many of the frightened passengers, driven by fear and shock, had placed themselves in greater danger, by clinging to the sinking vessel. "A man tangled himself with a rope," he said. "I urged him to give it away, or else he could die."

A woman, clung to a fixture inside the cabin of the sinking vessel, was obstructing the escape of other survivors.

Many were in panic and had no idea of what to do. But Lee and Hui were both impressed that those who survived were driven by a fierce will to get through the ordeal, to help others and to live, regardless of age or gender.

The rescuers described extraordinary physical efforts by survivors to climb onto swaying ropes in the rough sea. Hui saw many men assisting women and children to reach safety first and proved a significant asset to the rescue mission.

"You might be unaware that the more one struggles in water, the faster one loses his energy," Hui said. "Everyone was exhausted - as we were too - but no one cared about that given the situation."

The rescuers, suffering cuts and bruises and occasionally struck by falling objects, had to work through the difficulties. Lam Kai-cheong, a nurse at Yan Chai Hospital, recalled the Marine Police officer was among the last to be admitted to the emergency room.

"They came in a while after a rush of ambulances," Lam said. "In the scramble, I asked why they didn't come earlier. They told me he had to wait until everyone was saved."

Most rescuers worked overnight before going home. Hui Ka-chun, worked from 8 pm to 6 am the next morning. "I was exhausted, but I didn't feel so. I could not sleep at home. I recalled what had happened when I closed my eyes," he said.

kahon@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 10/04/2012 page1)