Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Use of Signals of Distress) Regulations
[19 May 1989]
(Format changes—E.R. 1 of 2024)
These regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Use of Signals of Distress) Regulations.
In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
signal of distress (遇險訊號) means any of the signals of distress prescribed by regulation 4 of the Merchant Shipping (Safety)(Signals of Distress and Prevention of Collisions) Regulations (Cap. 369 sub. leg. N) for use by ships as signals of distress. (E.R. 1 of 2024)No signal of distress shall be used by any ship unless the master of the ship so orders.
The master of a ship shall not order any signal of distress to be used by his ship unless he is satisfied—
that his ship is in serious and imminent danger, that a person is in serious and imminent danger, or that another ship or an aircraft is in serious and imminent danger and cannot of itself send that signal; and
that the ship in danger (whether his own ship or another ship), the person in danger or the aircraft in danger, as the case may be, requires immediate assistance in addition to any assistance then available to him or it.
The master of a ship which has sent any signal of distress by means of radio or other means, shall cause that signal to be revoked by all appropriate means as soon as he is satisfied that the ship, person or aircraft to which the signal relates is no longer in need of assistance.