Elite rescuers go underground as MTR construction ramps up

Elite rescuers who specialise in saving people trapped high above the city's pavements are switching their focus below ground.

The Fire Services Department's High Angle Rescue Team is preparing for the possibility that it might be called on to save workers in one of several subterranean projects now under way in Hong Kong.

The team, formed in 2011, already knows underground work can be much more daunting than high-level rescues: its training includes both. But it has never been called on to carry out a belowground rescue before.

WATCH: How do you get rescued from one of Hong Kong's skyscrapers?

"When you're up high you can see a long way and the scenery has a comforting effect," said senior fireman Rambo Chow Koon-ho, 44. "But when you go underground, the claustrophobic feeling can get really intense; when you look down, the only source of light is no brighter than a candle. It sends a chill down your spine."

The term "high angle" refers to the rescues the team carries out - at places with a gradient of 60 degrees or more, above or below ground, where only firemen with special training can operate comfortably. Saving people trapped as deep as 160 metres below sea level has been part of the team's regular training.