Tourist's float death inquiry under way
TRAFFIC police will today begin a detailed inquiry into how a float in a Lunar New Year parade careered into a Tsim Sha Tsui crowd, killing a tourist and injuring 31 people.
The Hong Kong Tourist Association, which organised Friday's parade to provide holiday entertainment for foreign visitors, and float sponsors the Better Hong Kong Foundation, held meetings yesterday to see how they could assist the inquiry.
Police investigators are checking how the driver of the float was apparently overcome by carbon monoxide.
A Queen Elizabeth Hospital spokesman said victims saw the driver slumped over the wheel of his modified goods vehicle as it veered off Salisbury Road, near the junction with Middle Road, and ran into them.
'We investigated by checking his blood and found his carbon monoxide levels were high, causing him to fall asleep at the wheel and lose control,' she said.
'He had already lost control when the float rolled into the crowd.' A Tourist Association spokesman said special care had been taken in the design of the floats. 'We set very strict criteria based on international standards. Whether carbon monoxide was anything to do with this, or the structure of the float, I cannot speculate,' he said.
The dead tourist, 45-year-old English woman Brenda Stevens, arrived alone in Hong Kong on Tuesday for a brief tour and was with a group watching the parade when she was hit at about 2.45 pm.
She was pronounced dead on arrival at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Another British tourist sustained minor injuries.
Among the six injured still in hospital yesterday was a 32-year-old policeman who was crushed after rescuing two children from the path of a float. He and five others were in a stable condition. A 33-year-old woman was described as poor.
