Tears at services for Lamma ferry disaster victims

Friends and relatives paid their respects yesterday at two church services for victims of the National Day ferry collision off Lamma.

At St John's Cathedral, Central, a funeral service for Nicholas Chi-ho Belshaw, seven, and his mother Wendy Hwie Ie, 44, was held in the morning. Mourners wept as they paid their condolences to Nicholas' nine-year-old sister Emma Belshaw - who survived the crash - and her father, Mike Belshaw.

The mourners included Nicholas' Primary Two school friends from St Stephen's College Preparatory School. Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah also attended the service.

In the evening a mass was held for Thomas Koo Man-cheung, 24, at St Anthony's Church, Pok Fu Lam. Koo was an associate engineer at Hongkong Electric. His girlfriend, Chan Wing-yee, also died.

Wreaths were offered by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, the University of Hong Kong's engineering department and Hongkong Electric, among others.

"All the good memories of you will stay with me forever," wrote a friend of Koo's, Stephen Mak, in a remembrance book.

Thirty-nine people were killed in the October 1 disaster, the city's worst maritime accident in four decades.