A US offer to send one of its navy aircraft to help in the search for 25 missing Hong Kong and mainland fishermen was withdrawn after Beijing refused to give permission for it to land at Chek Lap Kok airport, according to sources.
The refusal was apparently part of a ban imposed over the spy plane crisis 18 months ago.
Sources said the US had offered to send a P-3 aircraft - similar to the plane that collided with a PLA jet fighter in April last year - to join the search around the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
However, the central government refused to allow the long-range aircraft with special search and rescue equipment to land in Hong Kong for refuelling and the offer was withdrawn, said a SAR government source.
The plane was made available to help search for the missing crew of a Hong Kong-registered fishing vessel which sank in rough seas in the western part of the Spratlys in mid-August.
Eleven survivors - including SAR-based boat owner Fung Ching-fuk, 44, his son and brother - escaped in a small boat and were found by the Vietnamese navy on an islet on August 14. The remaining 25 fishermen, including two Hong Kong men who jumped into two sampans, are still missing.
