Diggers 'should be warned of danger'

The Coroner's Court yesterday urged two government bodies to put up warning signs at popular shellfish-picking spots after an inquest found four people died while gathering clams and crabs.

Three of the victims drowned and a fourth died of heart failure while trying to rescue a drowning friend, the court found.

The five-member jury said the Home Affairs Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department should erect signs warning of rapid tide movements and boggy ground in intertidal zones. The latter should also consider posting lifeguards at these locations, it said.

The inquest was launched last week amid concerns that a rising number of people were ignoring the dangers of intertidal zones.

At least seven people have died in the past two years after their digging excursions went fatally wrong.

Of the four cases dealt with yesterday, clam-digger Cho Mei-ching died in June 2012 on the rocky shore outside the Hau Wong Temple and San Tau Village in Tung Chung. Chan Mei-kau drowned on August 12 last year while catching crabs with friends at Po Sum Pai in Tai Po.

Clam-digger Kwok Tsun-leung, 56, drowned in June 2012 at Lung Kwu Sheung Tan in Tuen Mun, while Yip Shu-wun, 62, died of a sudden heart condition after pulling Kwok out of the water.