Paying respect: Russian Viktor Larin, left, who escaped death in last week's tragedy at sea, receives a candle with other seamen at service. Photo by Robert Ng

Survivors of a collision between a dredger and a container ship in which eight sailors died or are missing paid their last respects to their colleagues at a memorial service at the Russian Consulate March 19.

The service coincided with the discovery of a fourth dead Russian seaman found floating under the Tsing Ma Bridge yesterday.

A police spokeswoman confirmed he was among the 15 crew members on the Hong Kong-registered A. M. Vella dredger when it and the Singapore-registered 13,000-tonne container ship the Kota Hadiah collided near Kap Shui Mun, west of Ma Wan, last Tuesday.

Six of the 15 crewmen on the dredger were rescued from a life raft the same night, while a seventh, chief engineer Viktor Larin, 51, survived for hours in an air pocket in the wreck before swimming to safety. Two Russian and two Hong Kong sailors were still missing last night.

The 30-minute memorial service in Wan Chai was led by the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Hong Kong, Metropolitan Nikitas, and conducted in English, Russian and Greek.

The 30 people who attended included the seven Russian crewmen who survived the tragedy, and acting Russian Consul-General Sergey Kostikov.

Survivor Sergey Glushkov, 30, had photographs of his dead colleagues. Recalling the accident, the third engineer, who was one of the first to be rescued, said they did not realise what was going on as everything happened so quickly.

"I rushed to climb on to a life raft and was rescued ... the whole process only took about a few minutes. It all seemed like a dream."

Donations for the families of the dead men were collected at the consulate yesterday. The public can visit www.irussia-hk.org to "sign" a book of condolences.

Meanwhile, a Marine Department spokeswoman said the shipping company that owns the A. M. Vella, which lies 30 metres deep off Ma Wan, was required to raise it within seven days.