Tse Chi-kin, brother of slain Hong Kong guide in Manila hostage crisis, dies at 49
Activist suffered concussion during skiing trip to Japan in January 2023 and had been in coma since then, close friend says
Tse Chi-kin, a prominent campaigner and brother of a tour guide who was killed in a hostage crisis in Manila along with seven other Hongkongers more than a decade ago, has died after spending two years in a coma following a skiing accident.
The 49-year-old led a delegation of survivors and family members after the gun attack in August 2010 to negotiate with the governments of Hong Kong and the Philippines for compensation, an official apology from Manila authorities and accountability over the handling of the crisis.
Tse died on Monday last week and his funeral is set to take place next month, according to a notice posted on his social media page on Wednesday. A close friend of Tse said that the activist suffered a concussion during a skiing trip to Japan in January 2023 and had been in a coma.
“He was sent back to Hong Kong on a medical charter flight and had stayed in a coma at Princess Margaret Hospital since then,” the friend said.
Tse came into the public spotlight after his brother Masa Tse Ting-chunn was killed by Rolando Mendoza, a disgruntled former police officer armed with an M-16 assault rifle. Mendoza, then 55, stopped a bus carrying a group of Hong Kong tourists across a wide road in the Philippine capital’s largest park.
Masa Tse, the guide of the group, was killed alongside seven other Hongkongers during a 12-hour siege on the bus. Two members of the tour group were critically injured during the assault.