Hong Kong officials have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of regional search and rescue procedures, with two local fishermen and 23 mainlanders still missing feared dead nearly a month after their boat sank in the South China Sea.
Following the sinking of the SAR-based fishing vessel in the militarily-sensitive waters around the Spratly Islands, complaints have emerged about a lack of co-ordination between authorities and the apparent reluctance of some neighbouring countries to launch effective search operations.
Representatives of ship owners say lives are being put at risk because of sovereignty issues, which are particularly acute around the island chain claimed wholly or in part by at least five nations.
The missing SAR fishermen - known only as Yau-shing and Chi-kit - were aboard a Hong Kong-registered vessel, the Fung Ching Fuk, which went down in rough seas among the Spratlys' hundreds of islets, cays and reefs in mid-August.
Little is known about what caused the fishing boat to sink and exactly when it encountered difficulties.
The 11 survivors escaped in an unpowered sampan and were apparently washed on to an island on August 14, where they were found by the Vietnamese navy. Among the survivors were the owner of the boat, Fung Ching-fuk, 44, his son, Ka-ming, 21, and brother, Yau-tim, 37, who live on Cheung Chau.
