Driver of double-decker bus jailed for 2½ years in Hong Kong over rush-hour accident at road crossing that left 3 dead and 30 injured
- Fong Kwing-wah, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving causing death and another of causing grievous bodily harm
- His bus hit a taxi and mounted pavement at busy junction in Sham Shui Po
A bus driver was jailed for 2½ years on Monday over a rush-hour accident in one of Hong Kong’s busiest districts that left three people dead and 30 others injured when his double-decker mounted a pavement.
The District Court heard Fong Kwing-wah, 45, was driving on Citybus route E21A from Lantau Island when his vehicle hit a taxi and turned towards the pavement at the busy junction of Cheung Sha Wan Road and Yen Chow Street in Sham Shui Po at around 6.30pm on September 22 last year.
The bus ploughed into pedestrians at the crossing and slammed into an overhanging canopy, part of which went through the front window on the upper deck.
A passenger sitting on the sixth row of the upper deck was declared dead at the scene after firefighters found her head trapped by the concrete canopy. A pedestrian pinned under the double-decker and another trapped between the bus and pavement railings later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
Five other passengers and another two pedestrians also suffered grievous bodily harm that required between three and 42 days of hospitalisation. The injuries included bone fractures, punctured lungs, shoulder dislocation, back pains, bruises and abrasions.