Prison officer survives 'lucky' nine-storey fall
'Everybody's birthday' - the seventh day of the Lunar New Year - proved lucky for an off-duty prison officer yesterday when he survived an accidental fall from his 10th-floor flat.
Leung Yau-sing, 46, suffered only minor injuries when his fall was broken by a clothes rack on the first floor.
Mr Leung, an assistant officer in the Correctional Services Department, lost his balance when collecting clothes from a rack on the balcony of his flat in Block 38, Heng Fa Chuen, Chai Wan, at 1.55am.
'Luckily, the man landed on the nylon ropes of a clothing rack outside a first-floor flat,' a police officer said. 'The ropes acted as a safety net and saved his life.'
Members of Mr Leung's family were in the departmental flat at the time.
His 20-year-old son discovered what had happened and called the police.
A police spokesman said Mr Leung, who remained conscious after the fall, had injured his right leg and head.
He was taken to Eastern Hospital, where he was listed in a stable condition last night.
'He suffered minor injuries and is not in a life-threatening state,' a Correctional Services Department spokeswoman said.
In Chinese tradition, the seventh day of Lunar New Year is considered a common birthday, when everyone turns one year older.
