At least 36 dead in boat crash

A vessel that collided with a passenger ferry off Hong Kong's Lamma island is pulled from the water on Tuesday, October 2. The vessel was reportedly taking passengers to watch the city's Chinese National Day fireworks display. Rescuers approach the sinking vessel late on Monday, October 1. Authorities said dozens of people were killed. A survivor is helpd onto an ambulance. The crash necessitated what local police called a "major rescue" operation, according to China's state-run media. Local residents try to get a glimpse of rescue personnel as they tend to a victim Monday night. The incident happened around 8:20 p.m. local time, just off the coast of Lamma Island, southwest of Hong Kong. Rescuers search for survivors near the crash site. More than 100 people were picked up. Survivors are transported to shore on a police boat late Monday. Medical and rescue personnel wait for survivors by the ferry pier. A victim is carried ashore Monday. Rescuers approach an overturned boat. A local company had rented one of the boats for a staff holiday outing. A rescuer looks through a window of the rapidly sinking ship. A passenger is helped on shore. Survivors were taken to a number of public hospitals. Members of the media surround rescue workers as they carry a victim into an ambulance Monday night. The crash sent dozens of passengers into the water. The rescue effort was still going on as dawn approached. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Impact was like hitting a rock or a lighthouse, a passenger says Rescue workers continue to search for survivors near the stricken vessel Death toll from the accident near Lamma Island rises to 36, Hong Kong authorities say The maritime disaster appears to be the territory's worst since 1971 Hong Kong (CNN) -- Rescue workers searched Tuesday off the shore of a Hong Kong island for survivors from the collision of two passenger boats that left at least 36 people dead in the territory's worst ferry accident in recent memory. The crash happened on Monday evening, a night when Hong Kong's busy waters were even more crowded than usual, as the city celebrated China's National Day. One of the two vessels, owned by The Hong Kong Electric Company, was carrying company employees and their families to watch the scheduled fireworks display when it was struck by a passenger ferry traveling from Hong Kong Island to Lamma Island. Government officials said the collision occurred off Lamma's coast around 8:20 p.m., plunging more than 100 people into the water. "I thought we'd hit a rock or a lighthouse," said Chris Head, a school teacher who was on the passenger ferry that crashed into the Hong Kong Electric vessel. He said the ferry went from what felt like full speed to "an abrupt halt." Head said the force of the impact threw him out of his seat at the back of the ferry, which was not very full of people. As the damaged ferry began to move toward the pier in the small town of Yung Shue Wan on Lamma, Head said he could see the other boat had started to sink into the water vertically, like the Titanic. Boats crash, dozens dead in Hong Kong "It was very dark," he said. "There were very few lights on board." Deadly ferry crash in Hong Kong According to the Hong Kong Fire Services Department (FSD), which led the rescue, the vessel began to sink quickly after the impact. It said low visibility and many obstacles on board made work difficult for rescuers. Celebration turns tragic in Hong Kong The FSD said its rescue boats, including a diving support vessel, managed to pull 123 people from the water.  Map: Collision site Map: Collision site Twenty-eight people were declared dead at the scene, and eight others were certified dead upon arrival at the hospital, according to a statement early Tuesday from the Hong Kong government. The death toll would appear to make the crash Hong Kong's most lethal maritime accident since 1971, when 88 people died after the ferry Fat Shan capsized between Hong Kong and Macau amid a typhoon. In 2008, 18 Ukrainian sailors died in 2008 after their boat hit a Chinese cargo ship and sank. "After 10 minutes out a boat crashed into ours from the side at very high speed," one male survivor from the accident Monday told the South China Morning Post, a local newspaper. "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." Residents on Lamma, a lightly populated island to the southwest of Hong Kong Island, reported being woken up in the middle of the night by the massive rescue operation going on offshore. On Tuesday, the front of the stricken vessel was still sticking out of the water, tethered to a barge equipped with a crane just a few hundred meters from the coast of Lamma. Emergency services boats surrounded the scene, and divers were conducting a search. The authorities have not ruled out the possibility that some people may still be inside the partially submerged vessel or missing at sea. Hong Kong Chief Executive C.Y. Leung held a meeting with senior government officials to discuss rescue and relief work, as well as an investigation of the collision, his office said Tuesday. Despite a hole torn in its bow, the passenger ferry was able to dock safely after the crash. Government officials have not yet confirmed if passengers aboard that vessel were injured, but Head said nobody around him appeared to have been hurt. The narrow sea lanes leading into Hong Kong's main deepwater harbor are some of the busiest in Asia, with giant commercial freighters, ocean liners, passenger ferries and private boats of all sizes sharing the same waters. Hong Kong is home to more than 200 outlying Islands, including Lamma, which lies to the southwest of Hong Kong Island -- the city's financial center. Hong Kong Island is located to the south of Victoria harbor, with Kowloon forming its northern shores. To the north of Kowloon lie the New Territories, which stretch all the way to mainland China. Were you there? Share your stories, images and videos. CNN's Judy Kwon, Pamela Boykoff and Mark Morgenstein contributed to this report.