Court reserves ruling on Lamma ferry disaster inquest
A High Court judge on Tuesday reserved a ruling on whether to order the coroner's court to open an inquest into the Lamma ferry disaster in 2012 that killed 39 people. The coroner's court had decided back in 2020 that it would not look into Hong Kong's worst maritime accident in decades. Three family members of the victims told the High Court that an independent commission that looked into the tragedy didn't cover some of the areas and new evidence has emerged from the police's investigation since. Their lawyers said this includes the manufacturer of Lamma IV knowing it had to install a watertight door in the vessel but didn't, and an internal government probe revealing that 17 officers from the Marine Department had failed to discover the problem for 18 years. The court also heard that Lamma IV's coaming was substandard. The lawyers added that the bow of the Sea Smooth had been reinforced, and questioned if that could have contributed to the rapid sinking of Lamma IV after the two vessels collided on October 1, 2012 off the coast of Lamma Island. Judge Russell Coleman is expected to hand down his ruling on October 31.