Four fishermen died at sea when complacency and arrogance led to a collision, a coroner said yesterday.
The crash - described by the Marine Department as the worst of its kind in Hong Kong since 1965 - killed all but one crew member on a locally registered deep-sea trawler late last year.
Coroner Ian Thomas said a lack of vigilance among skippers who had grown over-familiar with Hong Kong waters had contributed to the tragedy. 'A degree of complacency and arrogance on each [of the crew's] part is to be blamed,' he said.
He said the crew of the trawler, Fishing Skipper, had failed to keep a proper lookout and the crew of the Burmese-registered cargo vessel involved had not done enough to avoid a collision.
Mr Thomas said there was no evidence to support claims by the Marine Department that the cargo vessel, Magway, had been trying to overtake at the time of the September 26 crash.
Neither could it be proved that the trawler had been overtaking.
The boats were in the East Lamma Channel just after dawn when the Magway and the stern of the trawler collided.