10 missing as boat carrying ‘illegal gamblers’ capsizes off Coloane

A speedboat allegedly smuggling several mainland Chinese gamblers into Macau capsized off the Grand Coloane Resort on Friday. Authorities revealed in a press statement that at least 17 people were on board.
An air and sea search-and-rescue operation was implemented before dawn on Friday, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. Macau Customs (SA) said it found two women and four men. One of them was admitted to hospital for treatment, TDM recounted.
Among the people discovered was the alleged smuggler, who was caught as he tried to escape by swimming to Zhuhai. The other five are believed to have swum ashore. According to their accounts, there were 17 to 18 people on board the seven-meter-long vessel, all of whom were heading to Macau to sightsee and gamble.
Customs revealed that two other smugglers are believed to have escaped along with three other passengers.
“Our investigations have found they came from Zhuhai to sightsee and gamble,” said Leong Wa Kan, from Macau Customs, as quoted by South China Morning Post.
All About Macau reported that each person on board the vessel was required to pay RMB3,000 to be smuggled.
The Judiciary Police (PJ) alerted Macau Customs at 4.50 a.m. and a search and rescue operation was launched soon afterwards. Authorities believe the boat sank as it was hit by heavy wind and waves.
The vessel was taken to shore, with authorities declaring that the force of the wind had hampered rescue operations. In addition, they found that the boat presented faulty modifications, and that it was designed to carry only five to six people.
AP news agency quoted a Macau Government Information Bureau statement, saying that the marine authorities had only been notified that a boat had sunk at 5.50 a.m. It added that the vessel was carrying over 10 people, including citizens suspected of entering Macau illegally.
A senior Public Security Police (PSP) officer revealed that in 2014 there were 1,409 cases of illegal entry into Macau from mainland China. Authorities added that the number is rising.
They have also noticed a change in people’s intentions when entering Macau illegally. While in the past, mainlanders would come to Macau for illegal work in construction sites, there is currently a growing number of mainland citizens who enter the territory illegally to gamble. This has emerged as authorities in mainland China have implemented stricter rules on travel documents.
Neighborhood associations told TDM that mainland and Macau authorities should collaborate further to impose stricter control on vessels and to combat illegal activities.
Macau authorities revealed that a petrol vessel, which usually monitors the area where the boat capsized, had been deployed to the Inner Harbor to participate in another operation.
Macau Customs also revealed that about 20 percent of illegal immigrants from mainland China usually disembark in areas near the Border Gate, and Avenida da Ponte da Amizade. They use the latter due to ongoing construction works for the development of reclaimed land sites, and because smugglers like to take advantage of large vessels stationed near by to conceal their activities.
In September last year, a vessel registered in Hong Kong, which was carrying either illegal immigrants or gamblers, sunk off the coast of Macau. Although the boat was only designed to carry four people, a man rescued by a fisherman said that nine other people had been on board.
During an operation at the beginning of last year, customs officials fired four warning shots when chasing illegal immigrants at the exit of a trail in Coloane. Three illegal immigrants who had traveled to the location from Hengqin in a speedboat were arrested.
Another arrest was made in May after a man was caught trying to transport a female illegal immigrant from the mainland to Macau using a motorboat.
The pair was spotted and intercepted by an SA patrol vessel as they attempted to disembark near Avenida da Ponte da Amizade. CP