Lamma ferry disaster: another memory lapse over door
Government ship surveyor cannot remember seeing an opening in Lamma IV bulkhead
A fourth government ship inspector has said he cannot remember whether there was a watertight door in the aft bulkhead of the Lamma IV that might have slowed its sinking after a collision that claimed 39 lives.
The evidence from retired senior inspector Mak Yat-wai came on a day when counsel for a commission of inquiry into the tragedy, Roger Beresford, asked another witness: "Where does the buck stop?"
Mak, who approved the inclining tests designed to test the vessel's stability - conducted in 1998 and later found to be based on wrong information - said he had no recollection of seeing an opening in the bulkhead.
A naval architect earlier said in an expert report presented to the inquiry that a missing watertight door in the bulkhead had led to the flooding of three compartments, contributing to the speedy sinking of the boat after the October 1 collision with the Sea Smooth off Lamma Island.
Beresford's question came during the testimony of senior ship surveyor Leung Wai-hok yesterday. "We have had one surveyor at the beginning saying he was only required to check the hull, and the watertight door might not have been submitted [for inspection] yet," the lawyer said. "And we have had another surveyor at the end saying that he was only required to check certain things and he was not required to check the hull. So where does the buck stop?"
Leung said: "I have nothing to add on this matter."
The commission heard that Mak in 1998 approved damage-stability calculation on Lamma IV, after an 8.52-tonne ballast was installed, that carried mistakes.