Families of Lamma ferry disaster victims blast 'bureaucratic' chief executive

Families of the victims in last October’s Lamma ferry tragedy made public a letter criticising Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and other officials for not taking their concerns seriously.

The families said they did so because Leung had been “bureaucratic” in his reply to questions over government responsibility in the accident that killed 39 people on National Day.

They had written to Leung and his justice minister Rimsky Yuen on May 8 asking them to give a “sincere, responsible and just” answer to calls for further action on the fatal accident.

The families said they wrote that letter because they found transport secretary Anthony Cheung Bing-leung and Director of Marine Francis Liu Hon-por were “evasive” when discussing an inquiry report on the accident during a press conference.

A commission of inquiry set up to investigate the disaster concluded in its report late last month that “serious systemic failings” in the Marine Department contributed to the tragedy.

In the letter to Leung and Yuen, the families slammed the Marine Department for being unprofessional and failing in their duty to ensure the safety of passengers and crews at sea.

They called for the government to take further action, including setting up an independent committee to further investigate the Marine Department errors and creating a fund to help the victims’ families.