There Are No Words....

Beaches, hiking and fireworks celebrations… for many in Hong Kong, what should have been a fun holiday weekend turned tragic in one horrible moment.  Two passenger ferries collided in the ocean off the shore of Lamma Island.  One was taking holiday travelers to Lamma Island, a tropical oasis just 3km from the hustle and bustle of the city.  The other was taking families towards the city for a spectacular downtown fireworks display in the harbour.  It is still not known exactly what caused this crash, but a mere 20 minutes later, the badly damaged Lamma-bound ferry arrived at the docks with a load of shaken passengers while the ferry full of families sank, Titanic-style, in the dark ocean. 

My friends and I were there.  Like, right there.  We were having a girls’ night away and had rented some rooms in a little hotel right past the docks.  We spent the better part of Monday night on the restaurant patio in our hotel, refreshing the news on our smartphones while watching the island’s mini-ambulance make steady rounds between the dock and the hospital.  The ambulance (and a dedicated team of rescue workers) continued all through the night and the next morning.  Luckily, many were rescued, but 38 people have died.  The search efforts for survivors are still ongoing. 

Facts of the story aside, I’m having trouble putting into words exactly how I feel about this.  I really can’t wrap my head around such a surreal tragedy hitting this close to home.  This is the sort of thing you hear about on the news, but it’s just so different when it’s your own city and community that are affected. It's no longer an abstraction.  My heart, thoughts and prayers are with all the families whose lives have been forever changed.  I can’t begin to comprehend what they are going through right now.  This is all just so sad.