Family faces hardship after father, 33, dies
A family of six faces financial hardship after a 33-year-old father collapsed and died while carrying his daughter to kindergarten yesterday.
The man fell as he carried the four-year-old up a flight of stairs in North Point on their way to St Jude's Catholic Kindergarten on Kin Wah Street at about 8.45am.
The father, who would have celebrated his 34th birthday next Thursday, had two jobs to help support his parents, wife, daughter and two-year-old son.
A post mortem examination will be conducted on the man, who, his wife said, did not smoke or drink and had a good health record.
The incident occurred on a set of steps near Fort Street.
He fell on the girl but she was not injured. Passers-by rushed to help and called an ambulance. The man was taken unconscious to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan where he was declared dead.
He came to Hong Kong from Fujian province in 1989 to join his parents, and shared a flat in Kam Ping Street with them, his 25-year-old wife and their children.
He worked full-time as a welder and had a part-time job at a storage centre in Chai Wan, while his father worked as a labourer and his mother a janitor.
His wife said her husband had been enjoying a day off and had offered to take the girl to school. He would usually take the stairs in Ming Yuen Western Street to Kin Wah Street, via Fort Street, she said.
She said the family now faced financial problems and would have difficulty paying for the funeral.
