CALLOUS hoax callers on New Year's Eve tied up emergency phone lines set up to handle crisis calls about the Lan Kwai Fong tragedy.
Children wreaked havoc when they faked about half of the total of 24 calls received by the Hong Kong Psychological Society's special hotline.
Co-ordinator of the Critical Incidents Team, Eugiene Leung, said the joke calls threw the organisation into a panic.
''The children, whom we believe were around 10 to 12 years old, left messages on our answering service giving names and telephone numbers and asking us to call them back.
''We got into a panic because the calls came on New Year's Eve. We were panicking trying to get our volunteers to call them quickly.'' But the calls turned out to be fake. The ''jokers'' had given the names and numbers of people who had not called the society.
''The children calling tried to change their voice each time they left a message. We suspected it might have been the same people, but we could not be sure, and had to call back in case it was a genuine call,'' Ms Leung said.
