Lamma ferry trial hears how water surged in when vessels separated following collision
Prosecution witness describes the severity of the damage caused by National Day collision
As the two ferries involved in a National Day collision off Lamma Island separated, it caused a huge surge of water to flood into Hongkong Electric's Lamma IV, a manslaughter trial involving the two captains heard yesterday.
While cross-examining government chemist Dr Cheng Yuk-ki, a prosecution witness, barrister Gerard McCoy SC, for Lamma IV's skipper Chow Chi-wai, said: "When [Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry's] Sea Smooth separated from the Lamma IV, what remained was a huge, unfilled hole which water flushed into."
When Cheng tried to give a lengthy explanation as to how the crash created a gash on the Lamma IV, McCoy interrupted and simplified his suggestion with the phrases: "plug and unplug and water goes in".
Cheng, shortening his answer, replied that had the two vessels stayed engaged with each other, "the speed of water getting in would have been slower".
The High Court heard that after the collision off Lamma Island, which claimed 39 lives on October 1, 2012, Cheng examined the damage to the two vessels and collected evidence that would be of forensic value to the investigations.
He concluded that the port side of the Sea Smooth had hit the port side of the Lamma IV at an angle of 30 degrees.
Detached seats rolled to the rear end of the upper deck cabin as the Lamma IV sank vertically, potentially blocking the only exit and making escape from the cabin difficult, he said.