At Least 16 Die as Typhoon Sinks Barge Off Hong Kong

A barge carrying nearly 200 oil-pipeline workers capsized and sank Thursday in a typhoon in the South China Sea, killing at least 16 people, rescue workers said.

Rescuers battling gale-force winds had recovered 12 bodies by early today, but they said time was running out to find survivors.

Among 11 people still missing were four divers, believed to be three Britons and a New Zealander, who were dragged to the bottom of the sea inside a diving chamber attached to the barge. Rescuers said the men had only enough air to last until early today.

Diving experts searched feverishly for the chamber, known as a diving bell, in wild seas about 65 miles southeast of Hong Kong.

Rescuers plucked at least 168 survivors from mountainous waves after a daylong operation that involved ships and aircraft from China, Taiwan, the Soviet Union and Hong Kong.

Some of the survivors were taken to China and Singapore, and at least six were aboard a Soviet ship. The tugboat Typhoon arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday night with 84 survivors.

The government said most of those rescued were suffering from shock but were not seriously injured.

Survivors, arriving in Hong Kong wet, dazed and shoeless, told a tale of terror after the Panamanian-registered barge DB29 was overwhelmed by 25-foot waves and winds of up to 75 m.p.h.

“When we woke up in the morning, the barge . . . was already beginning to sink,” said Philippine electrician Romeo Agana.

“The boat was already half under water, so everybody panicked and people just started jumping in. . . . I was in the sea two to three hours with two other men and we were clinging together to this dead guy. We let him go when the helicopter came to us,” said Agana.

Authorities declined to reveal names and nationalities of the dead until relatives could be notified.

It was not known if the captain, American Billy Young, had been rescued. He was last seen at the radio control tower when the barge tipped over, some survivors said.

The barge, belonging to the Singapore marine construction firm McDermott Southeast Asia, had been laying pipeline to carry oil from an offshore platform to a storage ship when it sank. McDermott’s parent company is based in New Orleans.

Some survivors, accusing the boat’s owners of lax safety standards, said the vessel sank after heavy anchors left hanging unsecured against the side smashed open the hatches, letting water gush in.

The crew of 195 included 112 Malaysians, 26 Filipinos, nine Americans, eight Australians, seven Britons, six New Zealanders, five Singaporeans and one Canadian, Egyptian, Thai, German and Indonesian. Nationalities of the others are unknown.