Tanker captain Ngai Lup-chee admitted he had to bear 'some responsibility' for the accident in which David Chan drowned.
'I'm not trying to shirk responsibility. As the commander-in-chief of the ship, I have to bear some responsibility.
'But I have to make the whole thing clear. Before it happened . . . I had already made it clear we had to cancel the operation to land.
'I said I wanted to steam closer and then return to Hong Kong.
'After I told them this, Mr Chan came to me and said many of them were not happy with my decision. I explained to them the chance of landing was very remote because of the weather.
'[I said] some of us might die even before reaching the islands. As the captain, I couldn't accept that - he could.
'But later, he came back and asked whether they could do something else.