Cabbie dies, 3 hurt as taxi hits stopped truck
A taxi driver was killed and his three passengers injured yesterday when their cab ran into the back of a container truck that had stopped 10 minutes earlier in the fast lane of a highway after a tyre blowout.
The taxi had been travelling on the Tsing Kwai Highway towards Tsuen Wan when it hit the truck near Princess Margaret Hospital at about 2pm.
The 76-year-old cabbie, who was unconscious when paramedics arrived, was resuscitated before being taken to Princess Margaret Hospital, but was declared dead at the hospital.
The three passengers - a 29-year-old mainlander and two foreign visitors aged 38 and 42 heading for the airport - were trapped in the taxi and had to be freed by firemen. They were sent to hospital after initial treatment at the roadside.
The truck driver told police the crash happened about 10 minutes after his truck had swerved from the slow lane into the fast lane and hit a concrete divider after a tyre burst.
A 10-metre skid mark made by the truck was visible on the road.
Police said they would determine the cause of the accident by investigating the condition of the vehicle, the speed it had been travelling and whether human error was involved.
Policed suspected the taxi driver had failed to brake in time after seeing the truck.
The speed limit on the section of highway was 80km/h, a police officer said, but it was not known whether the taxi had been speeding.
