Hong Kong’s Coroner’s Court has postponed a long-awaited verdict for an inquest into one of the city’s deadliest maritime disasters, in which 39 residents died after a collision between two ferries in 2012.
The court was slated to make a ruling on Thursday on the underlying causes of the crash, which took place off Lamma Island, that had not been identified by a previous government-appointed inquiry in 2013.
A judiciary spokesman confirmed the hearing had been postponed but declined to elaborate.
The SCMP understands that the court is considering rescheduling the verdict to no sooner than January 20. No reason was provided in a correspondence to the parties involved.
The court had twice postponed the ruling before the latest adjournment.
The inquest delved into the collision between the Lamma IV ferry and the Sea Smooth catamaran on October 1, 2012.
That evening, 124 HK Electric employees and their relatives boarded the Lamma IV to watch National Day fireworks over Victoria Harbour.
The Lamma Island-bound Sea Smooth, operated by Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry, was able to continue its journey after the crash, but the Lamma IV sank in less than two minutes, with many passengers unable to don life jackets before being thrown into the sea.
The independent inquiry in 2013 held the two coxswains liable for the tragedy, while attributing the Lamma IV’s rapid sinking to “a litany of errors” at every stage of its design, construction and inspection.
The Coroner’s Court decided against commencing an inquest in 2020, citing the substantive findings made by the commission and in subsequent criminal proceedings.
That decision was overturned in 2023, after two relatives of victims convinced the Court of Appeal that it was in the public interest to conduct another probe into aspects not covered in previous hearings.
The outstanding issues include the underlying reasons for the absence of a watertight door that reduced the Lamma IV’s ability to stay afloat when damaged, and whether the vessel’s substandard coaming and the metal plating on the Sea Smooth’s bow contributed to the tragedy.
The original hearing on Thursday would have taken place just a week after a ferocious fire claimed the lives of at least 156 people at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that authorities would set up an independent review committee, chaired by a judge, to investigate the truth behind the 43-hour inferno that ravaged seven of the eight blocks at the residential estate.
