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

A boat packed with revellers on a long holiday weekend collided with a ferry and sank off Hong Kong, killing at least 36 people and injuring dozens, authorities said.

At least eight people died and more than a dozen are missing after a ferry packed with more than 120 passengers collided with a tugboat and sank south of Hong Kong last night.