Hong Kong construction worker loses consciousness, 6 others complain of feeling unwell in 100 sq ft basement area amid heat alert
- Labourer later regains consciousness and sent to hospital with three colleagues for treatment
- Poor ventilation in small basement area may have caused incident, police source says
A Hong Kong worker lost consciousness and six of his colleagues complained of feeling ill in a confined basement area at a construction site during a heat alert on Friday.
Emergency services attended the Shing Fung Road site near the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal soon after 1pm after a report of workers suffering heatstroke.
A source familiar with the case said the seven labourers, all men, felt unwell while working in the site’s basement. He added the area they were working in measured about 100 sq ft, with a two-by-four-foot entrance.
“It is possible the workers felt unwell due to the lack of ventilation in the area and the hot weather,” the source said. He explained that firefighters carried out tests but found no suspicious gasses.
Observatory information showed the mercury had climbed to 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit) in the neighbourhood around the time the heatstroke report was made.