Lamma ferry disaster inquiry opens with minute's silence
A preliminary hearing into the collision between two passenger ferries off Lamma Island that claimed 39 lives on October 1 opened on Wednesday.
A preliminary hearing into the collision between two passenger ferries off Lamma Island that claimed 39 lives on the National Day holiday on October 1 opened on Wednesday.
Before the hearing began, Mr Justice Lunn – chairman of the commission of inquiry appointed by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to investigate the accident – led commission members, lawyers and members of the public attending the hearing in observing a minute's silence in remembrance of the victims of the tragedy.
Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos SC applied to adjourn the hearing until mid-January to allow police time to finish their investigations and to let the Department of Justice to reach a decision on whether to lay charges against the seven ferry crew members arrested.
Zervos said the ongoing police probe and possible criminal trial could be affected by the premature release of information into the public domain during the commission’s hearing.
Charles Sussex SC, representing HK & Kowloon Ferry and crew of the Sea Smooth, and Clive Grossman SC, representing Hongkong Electric and crew of the Lamma IV, also applied to adjourn the hearing until January, arguing that they needed more preparation time to go through some 30 boxes of documents and a report prepared by British maritime expert Captain Nigel Pryke.
More than 50 survivors, relatives of the deceased and members of the public as well as 30 reporters filled the inquest room in main wing of the former Central Government Offices in Central, and a second room to which the proceedings were broadcast live.