‘Saved by the handrail, I cheated death’: survivor recounts horror Hong Kong coach crash
- Airport ground staff member Ye Yugang says he did not notice anything abnormal about the trip before coach ploughed into taxi, killing five
Ye Yugang could have died in Friday’s Hong Kong coach crash that claimed the lives of five people, but believes he was saved by a simple handrail.
He forgot to wear his seat belt after boarding the vehicle early that morning. When violently jolted from his seat by the impact of the coach ploughing into a taxi, he was left with nothing but a small bar to cling to for dear life as the bus careened out of control.
“I tried my best not to get myself thrown out of the bus. I only thought about staying alive,” said Ye, a 25-year-old employee of Hong Kong Airport Services.
He was among 32 people injured in the horror crash on Cheung Tsing Highway in Tsing Yi just before 5am.
The coach was carrying 36 employees from five companies providing services for Hong Kong International Airport.
Three coach passengers were thrown out by the impact and died at the scene. The taxi driver and another coach passenger were certified dead upon arrival at hospital.