Chunks of concrete fall off Hong Kong industrial building, hitting Mercedes-Benz car on road below
- Third such incident in Mong Kok in eight days occurred on Tong Mi Road shortly before 10.30am
- Police spokesman says concrete fell off industrial building and hit car below but no casualties were reported
Chunks of concrete fell off the facade of a 43-year-old industrial building in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district on Monday, landing on the roof of a Mercedes-Benz car and the road below.
The incident – the third such case in the district in eight days – occurred on Tong Mi Road shortly before 10.30am.
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A police spokesman said pieces of concrete fell off the building and hit a car below but no casualties were reported. A 41-year-old man was driving the Mercedes, which was left with a dented roof.
The slow lane of the section of road affected was closed to traffic, according to the force.
A preliminary investigation found that concrete chunks broke free from a canopy outside a fourth-floor unit of the 15-storey Fuk Keung Industrial Building, a source familiar with the case said.
He said Buildings Department staff were called in to carry out an inspection and discovered that concrete on the outer wall of the unit was in danger of collapsing.
It was arranged for workers to remove loose items and repair the outer wall.
The source said police had tried to contact the chairman of the incorporated owners of the building but he was not in Hong Kong. Officers were currently unable to contact the owner or tenant of the flat involved, he added.
‘2 arrested’ after building canopy collapses, injuring Hong Kong driver
According to the force, no one was arrested over the incident. Officers from the Mong Kok criminal investigation unit are following up on the case.
The site is about 700 metres (2,296 feet) from the 17-storey Po On Building, on Mong Kok Road, from which fist-sized lumps of concrete broke off from an illegal canopy outside a rooftop flat on July 2 and 5.
In the July 2 incident, the falling concrete hit a truck, injuring its driver. Police arrested two men on suspicion of allowing an object to fall from the building.
The Buildings Department conducted an inspection of the Fuk Keung Industrial Building and said no obvious danger to the overall structure was found.
The property management company had taken immediate remedial action as instructed, including removing the loosen wall finishes, it said.
The department said it had also issued an order to the owners to appoint an authorised person to investigate the exterior wall, and submit a report and proposed repair works.
