From typhoon shelter to trader: on the trail of a killer disease

SUNDAY Morning Post reporters witnessed trucks pumping water from Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter after our tests had revealed the presence of cholera.

Six trucks arrived at the quayside (pictured left) to collect seafood from a vessel which had docked in the shelter last Thursday afternoon.

The catch of fish and shrimp was put into plastic drums containing polluted water and then ferried to buyers around the territory.

We followed the trucks - two of which went to two Urban Services Department-run markets in North Point and Causeway Bay. The vehicles' registration numbers were checked to confirm they were the same as those seen at the typhoon shelter.

Two other trucks delivered to stalls in Electric Road Market and the Cooked Food Centre in North Point (top right). Many of the fish, some of which were already dead, were kept in dirty tanks or polystyrene trays filled with about five centimetres of water.

The truck photographed pumping water from the typhoon shelter made a delivery to stall 1A at the USD-run Tang Lung Chau Market in Causeway Bay (bottom right).

The stallholder admitted all his fish was kept in water from typhoon shelters. He refused to comment further when photographs were taken of his stall.

Another truck was traced to Aberdeen.