bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

The Buildings Department has promised to release next Thursday the report of an investigation into last month's street cave-in in Central.

The collapse, in the famed hawkers' lane of Li Yuen Street East, sent five stalls and four owners plunging into a four-metre-deep hole during a downpour on April 24.

Yesterday, Central and Western District councillors and representatives from the Buildings,  Highways,  Home Affairs  and Water Supplies departments met 20 hawkers to discuss progress.

Councillor Kam Nai-wai  said the area was safe for the vendors to return. But government departments have not made any promises of compensation.

Mr Kam  said the cause of the accident and who should be liable for vendors' losses would not be known until the Buildings Department finished its investigation with  vendors and  contractors involved in the case.

Seven hawkers got HK$8,000 in emergency assistance from the Central and Western District Office. An injured hawker said this would not be enough to cover their needs and he would seek compensation from those responsible for the accident.

Lee Ming-yiu said: 'My right chest and left leg got hurt during the accident. All my goods were inside my stall and I lost everything.'

He said it would take about HK$20,000 and two weeks to make a new stall.

Councillors and representatives from various departments went to Li Yuen Street East for a site visit after the meeting at the district office. A shop owner in the street complained to the officers that a crack on the shop's wall had become wider in the past two weeks, but an officer of the Works Division of the Highways Department assured her the shop was safe.

The officer, Tsui Wai-cheung, said the department had sent workers to dig 12 holes on the street to ensure the ground base was safe.

'There will be no more cave-ins here,' he said.



Report on Central street cave-in to be released next week