Ferry inquiry to focus on role of both skippers as death toll rises to 39
Collision claims its 39th fatality as initial investigation finds that the two captains failed to post a lookout as catastrophe loomed
The death toll in the National Day ferry disaster last night rose to 39 when one of its youngest victims died of her injuries, four days after the two passenger vessels collided off Lamma Island.
After the government raised the death toll by one, a source at Pamela Youde Nethersole Hospital said nine-year-old Tsui Hoi-ying had died of multiple organ failure at 8.53pm. She is the eighth child to have died in the disaster, in which her father, Tsui Chi-wai, 42, also died. Her mother is still being treated in hospital.
The announcement of her death came shortly before rescuers announced, at 10.40pm, that they had called off their search for any more victims or survivors.
The government said police investigations had accounted for all people on board the Lamma IV launch and the Sea Smooth ferry at the time of Monday's collision, and that they would now be speaking to witnesses.
A government source with knowledge of the investigation into the accident suggested that lapses by both skippers contributed to the collision.
Both captains had apparently failed to keep a proper lookout and took insufficient action to avoid a collision that led to the city's deadliest maritime disaster in four decades, according to the source, who added that each captain should have been able to see the other's vessel approaching.
"They should have seen each other because they were running on a reciprocal [head-on] course," the source said. "From the extent of the damage, [it seems] the two boats were travelling at speed. Both parties apparently failed to take sufficient action to avoid the collision."