‘No closure’ for families as Lamma ferry disaster verdict fails to answer lingering questions

Families of victims of the 2012 Lamma ferry disaster say the latest coroner’s verdict has failed to provide “closure” in their long search for the truth, after the Coroner’s Court on Tuesday ruled that all questions raised by the families were unfounded.

Speaking on a radio program Friday, several family members criticized the ruling as “one-sided” and overly favorable to the Marine Department, saying it fell short of bringing their 13-year pursuit of accountability to an end.

Some said they would discuss possible follow-up actions with their legal team, while admitting they were emotionally exhausted after years of proceedings.

Alice Leung Suk-ling, who lost her brother in the tragedy, said one of the core concerns was whether the Marine Department should have discovered during annual inspections that Lamma IV lacked a watertight bulkhead door.

She described it as “an insult” that the coroner dismissed such expectations as unrealistic. 

Leung also criticized inspection practices revealed during the hearings, saying Marine Department surveyors boarded the vessel “empty-handed” on multiple occasions without cross-checking design plans.

Another family member, Tsui Chi-sing, said the Coroner’s Court had been the only platform over the years where families could participate through lawyers, question witnesses, and seek answers.

While the ruling acknowledged the Marine Department’s responsibility to uphold the highest maritime safety standards, Tsui said it simultaneously cited the department’s heavy workload as justification, calling the reasoning contradictory.

He said that despite the conclusion of the inquest, the sense of injustice remained unresolved, adding that memories of the tragedy resurface every year around National Day.

Meanwhile, family member Chiu Bing-chuen questioned the rapid sinking of Lamma IV, which went under in just 118 seconds after the collision.

He said it was “hard to accept” that the absence of a watertight bulkhead door was not examined more thoroughly in relation to the vessel’s sinking speed.

Chiu said the possibility that additional escape time could have been gained had such a door been installed was not adequately explored in the ruling.

The families said that while the legal process has formally concluded, the unanswered questions surrounding the disaster mean that, for them, the case remains unfinished.