C.Y. Leung's political grandstanding amid tragedy
Albert Cheng says Leung's hospital visit and appearance next to a mainland official detract from the good work of search and rescue teams
Although a commission of inquiry is to investigate the causes of the Lamma ferry disaster in which at least 38 people died and scores were injured, police have so far arrested seven crew members, including the two captains. We may see more arrests as the facts begin to emerge.
From the information available so far, it appears that the accident might have been caused by negligence, while maritime regulations could also have been breached.
And while we can't comment further on the tragedy at this stage, it is necessary to scrutinise closely the way the chief executive and his government responded to the disaster.
The accident took place at 8.23pm on Monday and the owner of the Hongkong Electric boat immediately alerted all relevant departments. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his senior officials would have been informed of it not long afterwards.
In fact, from an interview given by marine director Francis Liu Hon-por and Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man, it's clear that the fire services, marine police and officers from the marine department arrived at the scene before 9pm to conduct search and rescue efforts. Almost 1,000 people were involved in the rescue operation by that time. Within a short period, more than 100 people were pulled out of the water, with some certified dead at the scene and scores rushed to hospital.
Ko said he was informed of the tragedy at around 9pm and immediately activated the emergency response system and diverted the injured to five different hospitals. Liu was evasive when questioned about whether it had occurred to him to alert the Guangdong authorities to help with the rescue operation, as facilitated by existing cross-border arrangements.
All the relevant local departments - the fire service, marine department, police and our hospital services - have shown their professionalism in dealing with the disaster. They did their best to minimise the number of casualties but, unfortunately, the Hongkong Electric boat sank very quickly, within minutes.