When hundreds of Hong Kong motorists fled for their lives from a car fire in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel
- Hundreds of drivers using the tunnel under Victoria Harbour, and their passengers, fled to safety when a Kowloon-bound Toyota caught fire
- A government minister said following an inquiry that tunnel staff had not met the target response time for such an incident and didn’t follow procedure
“Five hundred drivers and passengers were forced to flee from their vehicles after a car caught fire in the middle of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel yesterday,” reported the South China Morning Post on May 30, 2000.
“The blaze in the Kowloon-bound tube also forced the tunnel – Hong Kong’s oldest – to close for about an hour, leaving huge traffic tail-backs at both ends. A queue stretched 1.5km from the Hong Kong Island exit in Causeway Bay back to Aberdeen Tunnel.
“The car caught fire in the middle of the Kowloon-bound section […] at 1.25pm. The driver fought the blaze with a towel and a fire extinguisher but failed to put it out. He was forced to abandon his Toyota as dense smoke billowed from the vehicle.”
On June 15, the Post reported a “Transport Department inquiry […] found that tunnel staff had arrived at the fire within three minutes instead of the two minutes specified in the management contract.
“Acting Secretary for Transport Kevin Ho Chu-ming […] said the tunnel operator had generally handled the fire in an effective manner and within established procedures but there was room for improvement.