Court found HKKF failed to ensure passenger safety in 2002 drowning

Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Holdings (HKKF) may not have been previously involved in any disaster on the scale of Monday night's, in which at least 38 people were killed, but earlier this year a High Court judge had found that the company had not taken adequate care to protect the safety of a passenger.

In January, Deputy High Court judge Mimmie Chan Mei-lan found HKKF partly liable for the drowning of wine merchant Robert Adams, who fell overboard from the company's Lamma Island ferry in 2002. The court ordered HKKF and the ferry master, Liu Wai-kit, to pay damages of HK$1.6 million plus costs to Adams' widow.

HKKF operates ferries between Central and Yung Shue Wan, on the north side of Lamma Island, and Sok Kwu Wan on the south side of Lamma. Founded in 2002, HKKF has paid-up capital of HK$34.45 million, corporate records show.

The other ferry involved in the collision was rented by Hongkong Electric. Established in 1889, Hongkong Electric is the main electric generating subsidiary of Power Assets Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed company.

Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, and his elder son, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, jointly own a controlling 38.87 per cent stake in Power Assets.