A helicopter pilot and his eight-year-old son had a lucky escape from death or serious injury yesterday when their chopper crashed into a parked tour bus in Kowloon City.
The helicopter, carrying pilot Ng Shu-keung, 48, and his son, Ng Yu-hin, smashed into the front of the bus about 100 metres from where it was scheduled to land at the Hong Kong Aviation Club in Sung Wong Toi Road. It was the first helicopter crash in downtown Hong Kong for two decades.
Mr Ng suffered minor cuts to his left leg and his son complained of head pain. They were trapped in the helicopter's cabin but conscious when rescuers arrived. The boy was crying, a witness said.
Ho King-him, a technician who was working on the bus, was slightly injured by flying glass when the collision occurred shortly after 11am in the Sung Wong Toi Road car park. The front of the bus was badly damaged.
The pilot had been flying back to the helipad to land when the helicopter developed problems and crashed, police said.
The Civil Aviation Department was collecting information on the accident and would consider whether human error was involved, Cheng Lam-yuen, acting chief of flight standards, said.