Mainland tourist dies day after being 'beaten unconscious' while intervening in fracas at Hong Kong jewellery shop
Two arrested, while industry chiefs fear impact of first fatal attack on visitor from across border
A mainland tourist died in a Hong Kong public hospital yesterday, less than 24 hours after he was allegedly beaten unconscious by a gang of four men while trying to mediate a dispute between a fellow visitor and their tour group leader.
Miao Chunqi, a 53-year-old construction contractor from northeastern Heilongjiang province, was certified dead at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei at 10.45am, according to police, who classified the case as "manslaughter".
UPDATE: Two men wanted over tourist’s death ‘may have left Hong Kong’; suspect stages beating reconstruction
The incident prompted a rare call from the nation's tourism authority for Hong Kong to protect the rights of mainland visitors.
Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung said it was the city's first case of a fatal attack on a mainland tourist, and raised concern it might deter others from joining tour groups to Hong Kong.
READ MORE: Tourist’s death after alleged beating will ‘further damage Hong Kong’s image in mainland China’
Officers were searching for two men, suspected to be mainlanders, after they arrested a local tour guide and a mainland tour group leader on Monday night.