The coxswain of the ill-fated Lamma IV said he was the last person to abandon his ship after it collided with the ferry Sea Smooth, the commission of inquiry was told on Tuesday.
Captain Chow Chi-wai said that when rescuers came to the wheelhouse, there were three women and a man with him. Only two of the women were wearing life jackets.
Chow said he let the passengers leave the vessel, then called out to see whether any others were inside the vessel. By that time Lamma IV was already vertical in the water with its bow in the air, and the water had almost reached the wheelhouse.
Chow had broken his right elbow and some ribs in the collision.
He then moved outside, climbing through a broken window with the help of rescuers, and stood on Lamma IV’s superstructure.
Firemen encouraged him to board the life raft. “But I saw people were still in the water, so I refused to leave,” Chow told the inquiry.