A bus driver was sent to hospital with suspected heatstroke yesterday, a day after a minibus driver died after turning off his engine to avoid it idling while stationary.
The latest incident happened on the same day as the Secretary for the Environment, Edward Yau Tang-wah, said the government was open to allowing more exemptions under the proposed law on idling engines.
The latest affected bus driver reported sick when arriving at the Shek Wai Kok terminus from Olympic at about 11am, according to a spokeswoman for Kowloon Motor Bus. He was treated at the Yan Chai Hospital and discharged in the afternoon.
The driver, who joined the company 10 days ago, started work at 5.10am and was making his fourth trip when he felt unwell.
Temperatures reached as high as 35.1 degrees Celsius in Sheung Shui and 34.9 in Ta Kwu Ling and Chek Lap Kok yesterday. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a very hot weather warning from about 8am.
The KMB spokeswoman said all of the 'hot dog' buses - which obtained the nickname because of the searing temperatures inside the non-air-conditioned vehicles, particularly on hot sunny days - were installed with a small fan, which was located near the driver's seat. She said that of the 3,900 buses in the fleet that KMB operated, about 100 were non-air-conditioned and all of those vehicles would be taken out of service by 2012.