Han Ximin, Yang Wenchuan

    ximhan@126.com

    SHENZHEN Maritime Safety Administration has rejected the application from the owner of a Hong Kong-registered yacht who was at the center of the death of a swimmer in Dameisha on Jan. 1.

    During a press release yesterday, the administration said the autopsy made by Sun Yat-sen University had legal standing.

    The remarks were made in response to the yacht owner, Wang Xiaodong, who claimed Monday that the autopsy report failed to reflect the actual situation.

    The autopsy report released Feb. 15 said Liang Zhentao, a 46-year-old doctor with Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, died from wounds sustained to his back and legs. The wounds were determined to have been made by sharp objects.

    However, Wang claimed Monday that the autopsy report was made at the request of Liang’s family instead of being commissioned by Shenzhen Maritime Administration. The report didn’t take into consideration factors such as drinking before swimming and water temperature, which he said might have led to Liang’s death. The report didn’t say when the wounds were made in relation to his death either, he said.

    According to the report, Liang’s blood alcohol content was 157.4 mg per 100 ml. No traces of other drugs were detected in his body during the autopsy.

    Liang participated in a winter swimming activity Jan. 1, but his body was taken back to Dameisha Yacht Club by the yacht later that day with several wounds on his back and legs.

    The maritime administration said its rescue center didn’t receive any call for help from Wang Xiaodong, who claimed his sailboat stranded near an island in Hong Kong and the yacht involved in a rescue operation. It reiterated the yacht neither possessed exit and entry approvals from Hong Kong nor Shenzhen maritime authorities and it illegally entered Shenzhen waters.

    Wang paid HK$1.25 million (US$161,189) for the yacht in 2011 and registered it under the name of a Hong Kong man, Fang Nan.

    Wang claimed that according to a law made before September 2011, yacht owners can register their yachts after entering mainland territory. Yet the agency handling his registration lost the materials and delayed the application. When a new regulation on yacht management took effect Sept. 15, 2011, the mainland maritime authority banned the registration of yachts that had been used for more than a year overseas. Therefore, Wang kept the yacht at a yacht club in Dameisha.