Witnesses recall horror of fatal bus plunge
A devout Catholic told yesterday how her prayers were shockingly interrupted by a collision that sent the bus she was in plunging 30 metres off an elevated road, killing 21 people.
Teacher Wong Yin-mui, one of 20 people who survived, said she was sitting with her eyes closed on the upper deck of the bus, reciting verses from the Bible, when she felt the collision.
'I heard something hitting the bus and I opened my eyes and a truck had run into us,' she told the District Court, where container truck driver Li Chau-wing, 53, is on trial for dangerous driving causing death.
Ms Wong, who was on her way to work at Tin Shui Wai Primary School on the morning of July 10 last year, said she heard someone on the lower deck 'scolding' as the bus ground to a halt then slowly toppled over the side.
'I felt it shaking. I held on to things, then I don't know what happened,' she said. 'I lost consciousness.'
Wu Wan-yin told the court how she watched the horrifying scene from a few metres away.
Ms Wu, who was driving her BMW along the elevated Tuen Mun road at the time of the crash, broke down as she began to give evidence, and the court had to be adjourned for 20 minutes.
'I'm now going to take it slowly and see how far we get,' said the prosecutor, senior government counsel Lynda Shine, when the court resumed.
Ms Wu recalled driving her BMW in the fast lane on her way to work when she saw a vehicle's hazard lights suddenly flash in front of her. Then a truck running on the middle lane veered sharply left and pushed the bus against the crash barrier on the slow lane.
'Being pressed, the bus fell over the crash barrier,' she said.
Li has pleaded guilty to three charges related to operating an unregistered, faulty trailer, but denies dangerous driving causing death.
