British women injured in SoHo Mercedes-Benz crash 'making progress' at Hong Kong's Queen Mary Hospital
Victim sent 'flying into air' by Mercedes-Benz regains consciousness after two operations
Two British women injured when a Mercedes-Benz ploughed into them on Aberdeen Street in Central on Saturday night were making progress in their recovery on Monday, according to a friend of the pair.
Karen Thomas, the more seriously injured of the two after she was sent "flying into the air" from the car's impact, remained in the intensive care unit as of last night after undergoing an operation on her pelvis and another to clear internal bleeding in her brain, her friend Elektra Yu said.
"She has regained consciousness since this morning when I went to visit her," Yu said on Monday after a visit to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam.
"Her mother is now on her way to Hong Kong to visit her," she said.
Thomas was in a stable condition, she added, but the hospital said on Monday the 30-year-old's condition had been serious since admission. Thomas has been living in Hong Kong for six years.
The other injured woman, whose first name is Rebecca, according to police, was in a stable condition at the same hospital and was expected to be discharged soon. She is in the city on a working holiday.
A police spokeswoman on Saturday night said the 31-year-old driver of the car initially refused to take a breathalyser test.
After making multiple phone calls to friends and drinking water non-stop in between, witnesses said the man finally agreed to take the test, the result of which indicated he had consumed alcohol but not in excess of the legal limit.
Officers in the end made no arrest.
On Saturday night, a witness said he was forced to leap from the path of the car in the SoHo area of Central and saw one woman sent "flying into the air".
The black Mercedes-Benz careered out of control and ploughed into the two women before knocking down a lamp post, and stopped only after crashing into a shop front, leaving a bent road sign under the car.
In March this year, six pedestrians were injured in Wan Chai when a bus driver lost control and mounted a pavement.
Police said the New World First Bus driver was steering the vehicle along Tin Lok Lane and had almost reached the Hennessy Road intersection when he began to feel unwell.
