Families of Lamma ferry crash victims drop judicial review after legal aid denied
Withdrawal of review application marks end of 13-year battle for accountability over 39 victims who died in deadliest maritime accident in decades
High Court Judge Herbert Au-yeung Ho-wing said on Wednesday that the proceedings had ended after the plaintiffs informed the court two days ago they would not continue the legal challenge.
The four plaintiffs – Alice Leung Shuk-ling, Leung Ka-yan, Philip Chiu Ping-chuen and Tsui Keung – lodged the application in April after the Coroner’s Court reached its verdict over the deaths of 39 people on October 1, 2012.
The Lamma IV, which was carrying 124 HK Electric employees and their relatives to watch the National Day fireworks over Victoria Harbour, sank after it was hit by the catamaran Sea Smooth near Lamma Island. It was the city’s deadliest maritime accident in decades.
The South China Morning Post learned that the victims’ relatives had to stop the proceedings because their application to the Legal Aid Department was rejected.
Coroner Monica Chow Wai-choo ruled in March that the killing of the 39 people was unlawful, pointing to gross negligence by the ships’ two coxswains as one of the reasons for the crash.
But on a contention over the absence of a watertight door on the underdeck of the sunken Lamma IV, Chow ruled that the omission was deliberate and complied with regulations when the vessel was being built in 1994 and 1995.