Basalt Island or Fo Shek Chau () is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

of Hong Kong and administratively part of the

Sai Kung District Sai Kung District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. The district comprises the southern half of the Sai Kung Peninsula, the Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the New Territories and a strip of lan ...

. Together with Wang Chau and

Bluff Island Bluff Island may refer to the following islands: *Bluff Island (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) *Bluff Island (Antarctica), Prydz Bay, Antarctica *Bluff Island (Hong Kong) Bluff Island, indigenously known as Sha Tong Hau Shan (), also known as Ung Kon ...

, it forms the Ung Kong () Group and is part of

Hong Kong Global Geopark Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark (), formerly Hong Kong National Geopark (香港國家地質公園), was inaugurated on 3 November 2009. It is a single entity of land area over 150 km2 across parts of the eastern and northeastern New Territo ...

Geography

Basalt Island is located south of

Town Island Town Island (, Fo Tau Fan Chau), also known as Dawn Island is an island in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It is located south of the former High Island, in the Sai Kung District of the territory. A drug rehabilitation centre was established on ...

and Wang Chau, east of

and north of the

Ninepin Group The Ninepin Group () or Kwo Chau Islands () is a group of 29 islands in the easternmost waters of Hong Kong. The Ninepin Group falls under the jurisdiction of Sai Kung District of Hong Kong. Islands The islands of the group include: * East ...

. Its highest elevation is 174 m. Notably, despite its name is “Basalt Island”, the rocks that forms the island are indeed rhyolitic

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

History

On 21December 1948, Basalt Island was the site of the first commercial airliner crash in Hong Kong, in which all 28 passengers, including five women, one child and seven crew, were killed. CNAC flight XT-104 from

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

was operated by a

C-54 Skymaster The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian a ...

. Fog over the island was the official cause of the crash.

Quentin Roosevelt II Quentin Roosevelt II (November 4, 1919 – December 21, 1948) was the fourth child and youngest son of Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III and Eleanor Butler Alexander. He was the namesake of his uncle Quentin Roosevelt I, who was killed in acti ...

, the grandson of American president

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and then Senior Vice President of

China National Aviation Corporation The China National Aviation Corporation () was a Chinese airline which was nationalized after the Chinese Communist Party took control in 1949, and merged into the People's Aviation Company of China () in 1952. It was a major airline under the ...

(CNAC), and Paul Yung, elder brother of

Rong Yiren Rong Yiren (; May 1, 1916 – October 26, 2005) was the Vice President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 1998 and was heavily involved with the opening of the Chinese economy to western investment. Rong is known both in China and ...

who was later to become Vice-President of the People's Republic of China, were among the casualties. Debris remains near the site of the crash.

Conservation

The island was zoned as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

in 1979. The Ung Kong Group Special Area () covers 176.8 hectares and was designated in 2011. It consists of Basalt Island,

, Wang Chau, their surrounding islets, and Kam Chung Ngam () in the southern part of

Jin Island Jin Island or Tiu Chung Chau () is an island in the Port Shelter, the New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively it is part of the Sai Kung District. Geography Jin Island is located south of the larger island of Kau Sai Chau, from which it ...

. The geology of the area is characterised by

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...

s of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

periods.

References

Hong Kong's Roosevelt Connection Basalt Island's Air Crash
(archive)

External links

(archive) Uninhabited islands of Hong Kong Sai Kung District Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark Columnar basalts {{HongKong-geo-stub

Geography

History

Conservation

See also

References

External links