Hong Kong bus crash survivor describes horror of accident that killed 19 people
Driver has been arrested for dangerous driving causing death, but police are looking into the possibility of manslaughter
The smell of incense filled the air along a usually quiet stretch of Tai Po Road on Sunday, as dozens of family members gathered roadside to mourn loved ones lost to one of Hong Kong’s deadliest traffic accidents.
“Who wouldn’t be angry?” asked a mourner, surnamed Yip, his eyes welling with tears for his dead brother-in-law, “when a family member is gone in a moment as brief as a bus making a turn?”
The same question was gnawing at the minds of some 200 mourners attending a ceremony on the section of Tai Po Road on Sunday afternoon, held by a Taoist master to help “call back the spirits of their loved ones”. Several lawmakers and officials including Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, No 2 in the government, attended.
Just a few hours earlier, blood stains were still visible on the road along with bricks, upturned earth and debris. Copies of racing newspapers dated February 10, soaked red, lay scattered on the ground.
On Saturday evening, 18 passengers were killed and more than 60 injured when a double-decker bus operated by KMB, route 872, toppled on its side as the driver negotiated a turn near Tai Po Tsuen. The death toll rose to 19 on Sunday.