Action is needed to improve the handling of 999 calls following the death of a four-year-old boy in a landslide, a coroner warned yesterday.
Ian Thomas said the death of Chung Ka-kit might have been avoided had it not been for confusion over the location of his family home.
Police believed to be responding to a desperate plea for help were at the wrong village, the court heard.
Mr Thomas recommended that procedures for receiving 999 calls and sending officers to deal with them should be improved to ensure similar problems would not recur.
'I have no doubt the operators at the emergency centre were doing their best to cope with a considerable volume of emergency calls,' said Mr Thomas.
But he added: 'I think it is unfortunate the full details were not recorded and passed on so far as the location of this incident was concerned.' The confusion had delayed the arrival of police at the scene of the landslide in Kau Wa Keng Upper Village, Kwai Chung.
Mr Thomas said: 'There is no evidence that the correct situation would necessarily have led to the saving of the life of Ka-kit in this case. But clearly that is a possibility.' He recommended that operators receiving emergency calls be trained to record all relevant details on the police computer.