Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam rejects fresh calls to release full Lamma ferry crash report, sparking outrage from victims’ families

Carrie Lam cites privacy concerns in declining to release the report, and says she understands families’ feelings, drawing scorn from victims’ relatives

The renewed calls were prompted by a media report alleging that police recommended an inquest be held into the crash, a suggestion the Coroner’s Court rejected

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has rejected fresh calls to release the entirety of a government report on the 2012 Lamm ferry crash. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:11pm, 7 Dec 2021Updated: 9:47pm, 7 Dec 2021

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has rejected calls for the full release of an internal government report on the fatal 2012 Lamma ferry crash, citing privacy concerns in a move that drew scorn from the families of victims.

The chief executive on Tuesday said she understood the feelings of relatives, but authorities would not pursue the matter further, nor would they hold an inquest, as judicial proceedings related to the National Day tragedy off Lamma Island that year had finished.

But victims’ families were quick to accuse her of trying to evade responsibility, dismissing an expression of sympathy as “hypocritical”.

Lam said: “Hong Kong is a place that gives priority to the judiciary … We have to respect the judiciary’s decisions.” She added that the government had never intended to make public the full Transport and Housing Bureau report on the accident.

“The government’s view has always been that the internal investigation involved a lot of personal information. If it is to be made public, many of the parts will need to be redacted in order to protect personal data. Therefore, it has always been the position of the government that it should not be made public. Up to this moment, this stance is still held.”

Lam’s comments were in response to fresh appeals by victims’ families for the “whole truth” to be released, prompted by a media report on Tuesday alleging that police had recommended an inquest be held into the accident.

Eight children and 31 adults were killed when the HK Electric-owned Lamma IV ferry, which was taking 124 passengers to a National Day fireworks display, collided with the Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry-operated Sea Smooth off the island’s coast on October 1, 2012.

A total of 92 passengers on both boats were also injured in the crash – the city’s worst maritime disaster since 1971, when a ferry sank during a typhoon, claiming 88 lives.