Two Charged With Manslaughter In Hong Kong Ferry Disaster

Salvage of the Lamma IV boat in October 2012.

HONG KONG, April 11 (Reuters) – Hong Kong police charged two boat captains with manslaughter on Thursday in connection with a ferry collision last year that killed 39 people in the city’s worst maritime disaster in decades.

The two were released on HK$20,000 ($2,600) bail each on condition they do not leave Hong Kong. The case was adjourned to May 9.

A commuter ferry and a company boat carrying more than 120 staff and family to watch fireworks in the city’s Victoria Harbour collided on the evening of Oct. 1 and the leisure vessel sank quickly.

Photo Gallery: Hong Kong Ferry Disaster

The company boat belonged to Hongkong Electric Company, which is controlled by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, and was taking passengers to celebrate the mid-autumn festival.

Hong Kong is home to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and, while serious accidents are rare, the waters have become increasingly crowded with leisure boats and vessels that ferry passengers to the nearby gambling hub of Macau. ($1 = HK$7.8) (Reporting By Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Nick Macfie)

(c) 2013 Thomson Reuters, Click For Restrictions