Missing door 'not cause of sinking' in Lamma ferry tragedy

The lack of a watertight door did not lead to the rapid sinking of a Hongkong Electric launch that claimed 39 lives in last year's National Day maritime disaster, a retired Marine Department principal surveyor told the South China Morning Post.

Wong Chi-kin, a former general manager of the department's local vessels safety branch, is challenging a naval architect's opinion that a missing watertight door between the vessel's steering gear compartment and the tank room had contributed to the speed with which the Lamma IV sank after a collision with the ferry Sea Smooth. The vessel started to sink just 96 seconds after the crash with the ferry.

Wong claimed the rapid sinking was due to the force of the collision that caused flooding in more than one below-deck compartment.

Dr Neville Armstrong was invited by the commission of inquiry, led by Mr Justice Michael Lunn, to give an expert opinion on the collision between the boat and the ferry on October 1 last year.

On Wednesday, Wong filed a judicial review application with the High Court that he hopes will overturn the commission's report, which found serious failings on the part of the department over the disaster.

Released in April, the 186-page report says: "It was Dr Armstrong's opinion that if a watertight door had been fitted to the access opening in the bulkhead between the steering gear compartment and the tank room, and if the flooding had been to two compartments only - that is the engine room and the tank room - the Lamma IV would not have sunk immediately, rather it would have become stable and [still] afloat after about one and three-quarter minutes from the time of the collision."

Wong, who had been with the department for 32 years, disputed Armstrong's view. He said the expert's claim was based on "too many assumptions".