Updated

Hong Kong authorities have filed 39 counts of manslaughter against the two boat captains whose vessels collided in the city's worst maritime disaster in decades.

The charges police filed Wednesday are for every death in the Oct. 1 crash. Five other crew members were arrested after the accident. They have been ordered to report back to court later.

The Lamma IV boat was taking power company staff and their families to see holiday fireworks when it collided with a commuter ferry, the Sea Smooth, near Lamma Island. All of the dead, including eight children, and most of the nearly 100 injured were on the smaller boat.

The crash was Hong Kong's worst maritime disaster since 88 people died in a ferry accident during a typhoon in 1971.