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SCMP Reporter

One worker was crushed to death and nine others injured yesterday when a concrete beam and section of floor collapsed in a bus depot under construction in Lai Chi Kok.

Eight of those hurt were still in hospital last night, four of them in serious condition.

Some of the worst injuries were suffered by a worker who was taken to hospital with an iron rod still in his leg. Firemen had to cut the rod to free him.

An investigation has been launched into the tragedy at the Kowloon Motor Bus site in Hing Wah Street West. The Fire Services, Buildings and Labour departments and police are all involved.

Initial reports from the Labour Department suggested temporary metal stands holding up the beam and part of the floor gave way as concrete was being poured on the fifth floor. Chief occupational safety officer Wong Wai-chi said at the site last night that officers would investigate whether the stands had been properly built. Officers found no problems at the site last month.

All concreting works at the depot have now been suspended.

One of the injured workers was directly employed by contractor Dragages et Travaux Publics (Hong Kong), which will be compiling a report. The other nine were employed by subcontractor King Cin.

A spokesman for Dragages said the company was saddened and shocked by the accident and had contacted victims' families.

The sole fatality was Chow Kwok-fong, 55, who was working on the floor below the 16-metre beam when it gave way.

Lai Chi Kok fire station commander Yau Chi-on said: 'His whole body was covered in debris. The three-metre by three-metre concrete slab had been lifted by his colleagues before we arrived. But he had lost consciousness and wasn't breathing when he was freed by us.'

Chow was pronounced dead at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Mr Yau said the nine other men working on the fifth floor plunged the equivalent of two storeys when the floor gave way beneath them.

'One of the injured workers had his right thigh trapped by a metal rod and we had to use an electric saw to cut the rod and free him. Another eight workers had freed themselves before we arrived,' he said.

Speaking from Princess Margaret Hospital, injured worker Tsai Wing-sheng said: 'We were working at the podium on the fifth floor and pouring concrete. Then the podium suddenly collapsed and we all fell to the floor below.'

Mark Tse, 25, who was working on the ground floor, said there was a huge noise and the whole site shook. 'The sound lasted for more than 10 seconds . . . and then a huge quantity of dust fell down and sewage water was coming down from the floor above.'

His colleague Stephen Lee, 24, said he first thought rubbish was falling down the lift shaft until workers shouted for help from the floors above.

Mr Lee said all the injured workers were carried from the building on stretchers, with three or four of them apparently unconscious.

More than 10 ambulances and fire engines were sent to the site.

The injured workers were given treatment at the scene before being taken to Princess Margaret Hospital and the Caritas Medical Centre.

Princess Margaret Hospital chief executive Dr Lily Chiu Lei-lei said: 'Their injuries are mainly fractures to the arms and legs, body and face. The most serious one has an iron bar pierced into his right thigh . . . he was in a critical condition. His blood pressure is normal now but the situation may alter when we move the iron bar. We'll have to handle it with extreme care.'

Dr Chiu said the hospital had called in an extra 10 doctors and seven nurses to the emergency unit to deal with casualties from the accident.

Caritas Medical Centre's accident and emergency department chief of service, Yuen Wing-lok, said: 'A 50-year-old man suffered multiple fractures to his hip bones, right wrist and right thigh. His blood pressure is very low and he needs a blood transfusion.'

A spokeswoman for Kowloon Motor Bus said it felt 'very sorry' about the accident.

Work on the $311 million depot started in the autumn and is scheduled for completion in December.

The victims

Chow Kwok-fong, 55, dead; Cheuk Shing-tsai, 42, serious; Sze Wai-ming, 50, serious; Sze Kam-sang, 20, serious;Tsoi Yau-choi, 55, stable; Sze Sik-sau, 44, serious; Yeung On-ping, 45, stable; Tsai Wing-sheng, 49, stable; Wong Ping-yiu, 49, stable; Sze Man-ming, 28, treated and discharged.



One dead, nine hurt after concrete beam collapses at bus depot