Cave-in victims still hurting
More than a year after the road collapsed under one of Central's famed market streets, stallholders are still suffering physical and mental problems and business losses of up to 50 per cent.
This emerged from a poll of businesses in Li Yuen Street East, where a 4-metre-deep hole suddenly opened up during heavy rain on April 24 last year.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which surveyed 47 stallholders last month, found 75 per cent were still losing business, of which half reported a 25 per cent loss and just under a quarter said their trade was down by half.
Stallholders said many customers had gone elsewhere to shop as lingering doubts about safety deterred pedestrians.
Traders hurt in the collapse said they still suffered a psychological burden and complications from their injuries and remained puzzled about the cause of the cave-in.
Almost all respondents also said they were worried about another cave-in if a nearby construction site was extended along the full length of the street, the DAB said.
The vice-chairman of the party's Central and Western branch, Simon Lee Wai-keung, said he hoped the government would let the stall owners know the real cause of the accident as soon as possible.
Scarf vendor Chan Kam-tong, who came close to being buried in the mud, said he was still having nightmares about the incident. 'My entire body went into the hole and all the mud went over my head,' he said.
Lee Ming-yiu, a stall owner who sells traditional Chinese qipao and who also fell into the hole, said she still had difficulty walking. 'I can't walk for too long, otherwise my right knee starts hurting and I can't bend my knee.'
Raymond Lee Kwan-man, who sells stockings, said that although his shoulder and waist had recovered from injuries he received during the incident, he was still puzzled about the cause of the accident.
'It's been more than a year. We still don't know who's supposed to bear responsibility for this,' he said.
Three representatives of a contractor who conducted private construction work near the cave-in were charged yesterday with carrying out unsafe building works.
The Buildings Department said work on the site at Queen's Road Central and Li Yuen Street East from December 8, 2006, to April 24 last year was carried out 'in a manner that caused injury to persons and damage to property'.
The three, each facing the same charge, did not enter a plea in Eastern Court after prosecutors sought another six weeks to prepare a 'complicated' case with expert evidence.
The prosecution said about 20 witnesses would be called, including experts. The case was adjourned to July 3 for another hearing.
