Driver killed as car veers into opposite lane and crashes into truck

A driver was killed and three of his passengers injured after he apparently lost control of his car, veered into the wrong lane and smashed into an oncoming truck in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Police say the dark-blue, seven-seater car was travelling at high speed along Ho Sheung Heung Road towards Ho Sheung Heung, near the border at Lok Ma Chau, when the accident happened just before 3am.

The driver was declared dead at the scene. A 21-year-old woman passenger was taken, unconscious, to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin. She suffered injuries to her head and chest.

Two other male passengers, aged 22 and 23, were both conscious when taken to North District Hospital in Sheung Shui with neck and chest injuries.

The group in the car is thought to have been returning from a barbecue. Police will investigate whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol.

"Without any special road situations that call for attention, [the truck driver said] the vehicle veered into the opposite lane and crashed into the right-hand side of his truck," said Chief Inspector Simon Pang Chuen-kwong, of the New Territories North accident investigation team.