Hong Kong High Court judge calls for skippers of Lamma ferry disaster to have certificates cancelled

The latest inquiry into the 2012 collision, which killed 39 people, has concluded that the two men in charge of the vessels were incompetent and negligent

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Rescue operation on October 1, 2012, the night that the Lamma IV and the Sea Smooth collided, killing 39 people. Photo: SCMP Pictures.

Published: 12:16am, 1 Sep 2016Updated: 12:17am, 1 Sep 2016

Two skippers involved in the 2012 Lamma ferry collision, which claimed 39 lives, should be disqualified from taking the helm, the latest official inquiry into the incident has found.

Chow Chi-wai, captain of Hong Kong Electric's Lamma IV. Photo: SCMP Pictures

In a report released on Wednesday, retired High Court judge John Saunders, who led the investigation into the fitness and conduct of Chow Chi-wai and Lai Sai-ming, concluded that both Local Certificates of Competency (LCC) had to be cancelled.

Sea Smooth captain Lai Sai-ming. Photo: SCMP Pictures

“[The collision] is so clearly a case of incompetence and negligence,” Saunders said.

Ruling out lesser approaches such as a suspension of their certificates and censure, the retired judge asserted that cancellation was the appropriate course of action.

On the evening of October 1, 2012, the Sea Smooth local ferry crashed into the Lamma IV vessel in the waters west of the Shek Kok Tsui light beacon, on the north-west coast of Lamma Island.

At the time of the collision, Lai was the coxswain of the Sea Smooth and Chow was in charge of the Lamma IV.