Two hit, one fatally, in separate crashes in an hour at same Hong Kong intersection
An elderly woman died and another escaped serious injury in two separate traffic crashes that happened at the same intersection in Cheung Sha Wan within an hour of each other today.
The woman’s death was the city’s second road fatality in three days. Police are still trying to identify her.
The woman, thought to be between 70 and 80 years old, was trying to cross Castle Peak Road at the intersection with Tonkin Street when the accident happened at about 10.30am.
According to police, the site was about 10 metres away from the pedestrian crossing area.
A delivery van that had been stopped at a red light knocked the woman down when the traffic light turned green and it began to move forward, said senior inspector Sun Lun-yum of Kowloon West traffic unit.
“She was hit by the front left of the vehicle and then went underneath the vehicle before being run over by the front-left wheel of the vehicle,” he said.
She fell into coma and was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital in Lai Chi Kok, where she was declared dead.
Police said they found no identification documents on her. The woman, who was about 1.63 metres tall, was wearing a purple jacket, black trousers and a pair of brown plastic slippers.
“She was carrying two bags of food. It is possible she was on the way home after shopping. We believe she lived nearby,” the senior inspector said.
Police arrested the 36-year-old van driver on suspicion of dangerous driving causing death. The man was still being held for questioning in the afternoon and had not been charged.
Sun said the site was not classified as a traffic black spot, which would mean a certain number of fatal crashes had happened there. Officers are investigating whether the driver checked the road situation before he drove off at the time of the crash.
About an hour after the woman was hit, a 75-year-old woman was knocked down by a taxi driven by a 49-year-old man as she crossed the road at the same intersection.
A police spokeswoman said she suffered minor leg injuries and complained of pain in the waist. She was conscious when she was taken to Caritas Medical Centre for treatment.
She said no one was arrested in the case and officers from the Kowloon West traffic unit were investigating.
Police figures show seven other people – four of them elderly – died in road accidents across the city this month.
The number of people killed in road accidents rose sharply to 31 in the first three months of this year, from 19 in the same period last year.
