Five injured as car hits LPG station at Sha Tin
Five Tai Po District Office workers narrowly escaped serious injury yesterday when the car they were travelling in crashed into a house used as a gas supply station at Chinese University, Sha Tin, causing a small gas leak.
The crash occurred about 1pm when the driver lost control of the car on a slope on Shaw Road, said Superintendent Law King-fu of the New Territories South traffic unit.
The car's occupants - four men and a woman - suffered minor injuries and were taken to Prince of Wales Hospital.
There were about 40 cylinders of liquified gas in the house, but only a small quantity of gas had leaked, firemen said.
No brake marks were found at the scene of the crash. Police were investigating whether the car had brake or mechanical problems.
The car, which was sprayed with water as it was pulled out of the house, was towed to a government vehicle plant in Tsuen Wan for examination.
Firemen turned off the gas mains supply before repair workers arrived, according to Tang Lung-cheung, senior Sha Tin fire station officer.
'Several pipes were disconnected from LPG cylinders and one or two cylinders were also dented in the incident,' said a spokeswoman for Shell Hong Kong.
'We believe a small amount of gas leaked because each regulator, which connects the cylinder and pipe, has a device to automatically disconnect supply once it detects an unusual gas flow.'
She added that gas supplies were restored at about 5pm after repairs.
Last night three of the men were in stable condition, while the others had been treated and discharged.
