Driver of van that crashed into Dragonair plane felt unwell before incident, colleagues say
Employer releases driver’s roster showing he had day off two days earlier
Colleagues of the driver who crashed his van into a Dragonair plane said he had complained of feeling unwell in the hours preceding the incident, police sources said.
Citing an ongoing investigation, China Aircraft Services, the driver’s employer, declined to comment on whether a report was made to his supervisor or management, or whether management took action on the complaint, if a doctor or medical check was sought immediately, and why the driver was not pulled from his shift in a highly dangerous working environment.
While not commenting on the aforementioned issues, China Aircraft Services did release a statement on the driver’s most recent schedule.
Prior to the accident on September 8, the driver had a day off on September 6. On the next two days he was rostered to work from 10am to 7pm, with no indication of overtime recorded.
The company said the employee did not have any changes to his roster on the day in question, or in recent months.
In an update on the driver’s health, company spokeswoman Jackie Huang said a preliminary examination and information from the doctor revealed he was “not critically injured and is still being hospitalised for observation”. It added the company was “deeply concerned” about him.