Hong Kong December 29, 2004 – En route to complete the voyage of the Phoenix’s sloop “Albatross”(“鳳凰號”), Captain Shaun Yixuan Weng (翁以煊), team leader/director Ho Ming Lai (何明禮) and cameraman Huang Rui (黃睿) survived the tsunami on 26 December.  At the time the tsunami struck the Albatross was anchored at Port Blair for a planned filming assignment on the Andaman Islands in the East Indian Ocean.  The crew extend their heartfelt gratitude to all those who have expressed concerns for their safety in the wake of last Sunday’s tsunami catastrophe.  The Phoenix crew set sail again at noon today (December 29) heading for Sri Lanka despite the fact that many countries on their planned route have been struck by the tsunami. 

Following December 26’s disastrous tsunami, enquiries about the crew’s safety kept pouring in from various sectors including viewers, people the crew have met en route since the Phoenix’s voyage began on 13 July 2004, and others.

On the morning of December 26, the crew was in Port Blair, which is only 500 nautical miles from the epicenter.  They woke up at 6 a.m. in preparation for filming the natives on the Andaman Islands.  At 6:26 a.m. the crew felt the initial impact of the earthquake when the sloop started to shake.  This lasted for 25 seconds.  They soon found that dust was starting to envelope the shore and that many ships, including warships, were sailing off shore.    

The Albatross’s crew made an attempt to disembark using a small boat but decided to return to the Albatross when they saw cement walls at the pier were falling down and warehouses were collapsing.  The Albatross then joined other ships sailing into the deeper sea and together they underwent the aftershocks and tidal waves.

When the sea conditions turned more stable, the Albatross landed at Junglighat on a small boat and made a live report for Phoenix TV’s audiences about the disaster.

The Phoenix’s voyage began on 8 August 2004 in Taicang (太倉), Jiangsu (江蘇), with the objective of retracing the epic voyage that the renowned ancient Chinese mariner Cheng Ho (鄭和) made 600 years ago.  Its route covers Hong Kong, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India, Pakistan, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the Seychelles, with Kenya in East Africa as the final destination. 

Although faced with changing conditions, the Phoenix crew decided to continue their sea adventure and set sail again today (December 29) at noon from Andaman Islands for Sri Lanka despite the fact that many countries on their planned route have been struck by the tsunami. 

The Phoenix’s voyage is a television collaboration of Phoenix Satellite Television, the Intercontinental Communication Center of the State Council Information Office and the Taicang Municipality of Jiangsu, China.