Hong Kong construction firms cleared over death of three workers in flooded tunnel
- Kum Shing Construction and two subcontractors found not guilty of 14 occupational safety charges over fatal industrial accident in Hung Hom in 2017
- The three men were killed after entering hand-dug tunnel five metres below ground that became filled with sewage from unknown source
Three Hong Kong construction companies have been cleared of failing to provide a safe workplace on a site where three workers drowned in a flooded tunnel three years ago.
Kum Shing Construction and two subcontractors were on Friday found not guilty of 14 occupational safety charges over a fatal industrial accident in Hung Hom on July 10, 2017, when CLP Power was laying underground cables.
Three men – Cen Canrong, 23, Fock Kam-chau, 49 and Wu Jianming, 48 – were killed after entering a hand-dug tunnel five metres below ground on the CLP Power site which suddenly flooded with sewage. The cause of death was inhalation of hydrogen sulphide and drowning.
Four companies and two staff members faced 21 summonses alleging that they had failed to provide five workers with safe plant and a system of work as well as failing to take reasonable care of the employees.
But Kowloon City Court sided with the defence in concluding that the contractors could not have reasonably foreseen the influx of a large volume of sewage – the source of which remains unclear – or the collapse of the tunnel face to formulate and implement appropriate procedures.