Two old trees next to the one that fell onto a bus shelter in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui's shopping district on Thursday night are also diseased and may have to be chopped down, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said yesterday.
But experts questioned whether officials were doing enough to check the Chinese banyan trees, which are listed on the register of old and valuable trees, as it emerged the government knew more than a year ago that the tree that fell was suffering from 'brown root-rot disease'.
Speaking after visiting the Park Lane Shoppers' Boulevard, where Thursday's accident injured five people, Lam said the two trees that shared a planter with the tree that fell might have to be chopped down to ensure pedestrian safety.
'Because they grow on the same planter, if the soil is infected, there's a high chance the trees are also infected. An expert panel will meet immediately to see if any follow-up work has to be done on these two trees, including removal. To put pedestrian safety first, if there's a need, we may have to [remove them],' Lam said.
The century-old, 14-metre tree that collapsed injured four women and a man. They were taken to hospital although none of the injuries were life threatening.
The tree that collapsed, tree No8 was the fourth to fall victim to disease on Park Lane. Tree Nos 9 and 10, which shared the same planter as No8, and No31, on the other side of the road, were cut down between 2008 and last year to prevent them from falling.