Killer boat crew arrested

fireworks display in Victoria Harbour on Monday evening when the collision occurred near Lamma island.
Scores of people were thrown into the choppy water from the company boat, which sank within minutes, leaving only its bow pro­truding from the waves.
The stricken ferry Sea Smooth limped to Lamma where its shaken but relatively unharmed passengers disembarked.
“There was not enough time to put on a life­jacket, no time to fasten it. We tried to hold onto something above but we had no luck and we slipped,” one emotional woman from the Hong Kong Electric vessel told reporters.
Another survivor, clearly overwhelmed, said he had yet to hear any news of his chil­dren.
“My two children are missing and I don’t know where they are,” he said.
Survivors were taken by boat to Hong Kong island, some three kilometres to the east, where a fleet of ambulances whisked them to hospital. It was the deadliest maritime acci­dent in the territory since 1971, when a Hong Kong-Macau ferry sank during a typhoon leaving 88 people dead.
Officials said the captain and three other personnel from the ferry had been arrested, along with the captain of the company vessel and two of its crew, for “endangering the safety of others at sea”.
Six of the detainees were released on bail, and the ferry captain was to be released on bail later, they added.
Police chief Tsang Wai-hung said the sus­pects “did not exercise the care required of them by law to ensure the safety of the vessels they were operating and the people on board”.
Authorities said 30 people were certified dead at the scene and eight were pronounced dead on arrival at various hospitals. More than 100 others were injured.
Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying said he would set up a high-level enquiry into the incident but dismissed suggestions the city needed to overhaul its maritime rules to cope with its growth as a global trade and travel hub.
“This is definitely an isolated incident. The marine territory of Hong Kong is safe,” he said. — AFP.