The family of a foreman who plunged to his death in a lift shaft on Christmas Eve yesterday won a seven-year battle for damages.
Savio Siu Tai-shan was 32 when he fell down the shaft at a Tseung Kwan O site on December 24, 1989.
At the High Court yesterday, Tak Wing Contractors Limited, China Expand Construction Limited and Chan Fai-chung were ordered to pay Siu's sister, Siu Sau-yung, $594,202 in damages.
Nobody knew the foreman was dead until he failed to appear for his company's Christmas Eve lunch.
Colleagues tried to contact him on his walkie-talkie, but there was no response. A search of the site uncovered the walkie-talkie in the lift lobby on the fourth floor.
The men peered down the shaft and saw Siu's body on top of the lift.