MANY parents, relatives and friends spent the first few hours of the New Year worrying about the safety of their loved ones, fearing that they had been caught up in the tragedy that overtook the midnight revels in Lan Kwai Fong. The wait for news ended in grief and sorrow for those close to the 20 young people who died in the disaster, and for many more who suffered injury.
The toll of young lives is appalling. It is even harder to bear that it should have happened on what was a night of celebration. For Hongkong, 1993 has had the worst possible start.
It is easy to say, with the benefit of hindsight, that the accident in which innocent merry-makers were trampled to death or asphyxiated could or even should have been foreseen. It is similarly easy to argue that in the steep and narrow streets of Central's popular club and entertainment district, this was an accident waiting to happen, and that better controls should have been in place to prevent it.
The local police commander's admission, that the District Board had warned of the danger after a Halloween crowd became unruly in October, suggests that a defence is necessary on this charge.
While there were a large number of police on hand, including 16 on the corner of Wing Wah Lane, within 10 metres of the crush, it was impossible for rescuers to reach the victims against the pressure of the huge crowd.
Inevitably, after such a disaster, the first reaction of a bereaved community is to look for a scapegoat. The police yesterday declined to take on that sacrificial role.