Hong Kong ferry captain found guilty of manslaughter

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2012 file photo, rescuers check on a half submerged boat after it collided near Lamma Island, off the southwestern coast of Hong Kong. The captain of the Hong Kong commuter ferry that collided with another boat, killing 39 people, was found guilty of manslaughter on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 local media reported. A nine-member jury also found Lai Sai-ming guilty of endangering the safety of others at sea, in what was Hong Kong's biggest maritime tragedy in decades, the South China Morning Post newspaper and Radio Television Hong Kong said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

The captain of Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry’s Seasmooth passenger ferry, Lai Sai-ming, was on Saturday found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter over the 2012 Lamma island ferry disaster.

He was also found guilty of endangering the lives of others at sea by a Hong Kong court, Xinhua news agency reported.

Thirty nine people were killed and nearly 100 injured in a collision between Seasmooth and Hong Kong Electric Company-owned Lamma IV passenger ferry October 1, 2012, the most serious maritime accident in Hong Kong in the last 40 years.

Lamma IV skipper Chow Chi-wai was acquitted of manslaughter but was convicted of endangering life.

The jury reached the verdicts after three days of deliberations.

The defendants will be sentenced on Monday.

Maritime experts have said that the Seasmooth captain had taken a port tack around one minute before the collision, which was in clear contravention of international maritime regulations. Related regulations stipulate that two vessels, which might collide, should take a starboard tack to avoid collision.

The captain of the Lamma IV, which was carrying more than 100 people to see the National Day fireworks in the Victoria Harbour and sank shortly after the collision, was found not to have taken positive action in time to avoid the collision.