A container truck driver died from carbon monoxide poisoning after being stuck in a traffic jam, a coroner concluded yesterday.
Coroner Alison Thompson said the death of Ling Yiu-hung, 56, highlighted the dangers facing motorists who sat in traffic for long periods of time.
She urged the Transport Department to consider issuing advice on the dangers of carbon monoxide.
On December 28, 1997, Ling was found unconscious in the cabin of his truck at Kwai Chung container port. The truck had been stuck in slow traffic for hours on its way to the port.
Ling's window was open and the air-conditioning was on.
Less than an hour before he was found, Ling had phoned his boss and complained about a headache and not feeling well. He was taken to hospital, where he died the next morning.
The autopsy concluded that he had died from carbon monoxide poisoning, to which he was more susceptible because of an underlying cardiac disease.