Two men die after truck slams into Hong Kong village house
Police investigating whether the vehicle was deliberately ploughed into the single-storey stone structure near Lok Ma Chau control point
Hong Kong police were on Friday investigating whether a driver who ploughed a truck into a village house earlier in the day, killing himself and another man, had deliberately crashed into the building.
A local man inside the single-storey stone structure and the driver, a male visitor to the city, both died in the incident near Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chau border checkpoint with mainland China.
The Hongkonger, Kwan Wing-hung, 50, an owner of a fish farm on the site, was alone in the house at the time, while the driver, a 42-year-old mainland visitor surnamed Du, was the only person in the truck.
The crash took place on Tin Yu Road shortly before 9am. A police source said officers were investigating whether the driver was an illegal worker on the fish farm and if the two men had any argument prior to the incident.
Initial information indicated Du suddenly jumped into the truck and drove it away when a 51-year-old worker was unloading goods from the vehicle.
One witness said the truck reversed for a short distance before moving forwards at high speed.
“The man drove it for about 150 metres before it slammed into the house and then stopped,” Acting Chief Inspector Wong Hoi-chung of the border police district said.
Kwan was found trapped under the rubble of the house, and Du in the driver’s seat of the truck. The two men had to be freed by firefighters, by which time they had lost consciousness.
Kwan was taken to Pok Oi Hospital in Yuen Long while Du was sent to North District Hospital in Sheung Shui. The two men were later certified dead in hospital.
No tyre marks were found at the scene, which indicated the truck had not attempted to brake, according to the source.
“Officers are investigating why [the driver] appeared at the scene, why he jumped into the vehicle, and why he rammed the truck into the house,” Wong said.
Police were also looking into the relationship between the two men.
The investigation would look at all possibilities, Wong said, including whether the vehicle was deliberately rammed into the house.
