Driver in Hong Kong bus crash that killed six suspected of ‘not paying attention’, sources say
- Man, 56, still in custody after arrest for causing death by dangerous driving in Sheung Shui
- Transport official says department ‘did not receive a report specifying any special road conditions’ before Wednesday’s crash, in which 39 others were injured
The bus driver involved in a crash that killed six passengers and injured 39 others in northern Hong Kong was suspected of not paying attention at the time of the accident, a source close to the investigation said on Thursday.
Before lunchtime, the 56-year-old was still in custody, having been arrested for causing death by dangerous driving on Wednesday, as it emerged he had driven three different routes that day.
The man was likely to be suspended from driving while police investigated the cause of the incident on Fanling Highway near Tsung Pak Long in Sheung Shui at about 4.15pm on Wednesday.
According to police, the double-decker had been in the slow lane but veered into the roadside barrier on the left before hitting a tree. Part of its roof was ripped open and two passengers were thrown from the vehicle.
Sources close to the investigation said the driver had been assigned to three bus routes per day, including the 978 and 373, over the past two years, the third a short route within Sheung Shui district. The 978 and 373 go from northern Hong Kong to Wan Chai and Central, respectively.
The driver was on route 978, taking his last scheduled trip of the day, when the crash happened. KMB said he had been with the company for 18 years and had just returned for duty after a day off on Tuesday.
A source said the driver was believed to have been inattentive at the time of the crash, but dismissed online speculation the man was speaking on a phone, dozing or bending over to retrieve a dropped water bottle at the time.
Another source said it was possible the driver could be arrested for further offences. He said it was too early to tell whether he would be charged with manslaughter, as officers were still investigating.
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Kwok Chi-shing, chairman of the Hong Kong Franchised Bus Employees General Union, said making drivers cover different routes throughout the day was unsafe.
“Because it makes them nervous. They may get confused with the road conditions and the bus stops when handling different routes,” he said.
Kwok also accused KMB of not giving drivers proper training on new routes, as required by the government.
“The requirement is that the driver must drive at least a full round of the new route as an internship. But in reality, it doesn’t happen to most drivers because KMB wants to save costs.”
He said drivers were previously responsible for just one route, but “since 2015, with a change of management, drivers were required to handle more routes”.
I passed out for a short while before I regained consciousness. The last thing I remember was a loud bang
In response to inquiries from the Post, a spokeswoman for KMB said the driver had two years of experience on route 978 and had handled the scheduled routes for a while.
“The driver passed the training requirements, he has sufficient road experience,” she said.
The company denied accusations it arranged more than three routes for employees to drive daily.
“Drivers at KMB run no more than three bus routes daily,” she said.
KMB also said it recently introduced two new systems to assist drivers on the road including an infrared one that can monitor and alert them if they doze off.
One of those killed on Wednesday was Cheng Yin-sang, who worked for the Social Welfare Department. She had finished delivering documents and was heading back to her office when the crash happened.
Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law Chi-kong expressed deep sorrow over her death.
“On behalf of the civil service, I offer my deepest condolences to her family,” he said on Thursday. “The Civil Service Bureau has contacted the Social Welfare Department and will make every effort to help the family during this sad and difficult period.”
Among the injured, a 57-year-old woman was in critical condition in Tuen Mun Hospital.
Another 11 were in stable condition in hospital. The rest had been treated and discharged.
One passenger, who gave his surname as Au, remained in North District Hospital in Sheung Shui on Thursday, after getting stitches to the back of his head. His left shoulder was still in pain, the arm in a triangular bandage, though the problem had not been diagnosed.
The 23-year-old said he had been sitting at the back left of the top deck, playing a game on his phone, when the crash happened.
“I passed out for a short while before I regained consciousness,” he said. “The last thing I remember was a loud bang.”
He said he woke up to “utter chaos”, with blood all over the floor. “People were calling out each other’s names,” he recalled, adding that paramedics arrived soon afterwards.
A transport official said on Thursday morning that KMB did not flag any risks on the 978 route before the crash happened.
“We did not receive a report specifying any special road conditions [of the route] from the bus company,” Patrick Wong Chi-kwong, assistant commissioner of the Transport Department, told a radio programme.
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In response to suggestions the accident happened because a tree had not been pruned and was protruding into the road, Wong said: “We don’t have a conclusion yet … We are checking with the bus company on this accident.”
He said the government had asked KMB to submit a report on the accident as soon as possible, and that his department and the Highways Department prune roadside trees regularly.
According to the Highways Department, facilities, including crash barriers, and roadside trees under its management were damaged in the crash. It said it was arranging repairs and other follow-up works.
Lawmaker Ben Chan Han-pan, deputy chairman of the Legislative Council’s transport panel, urged the government to strengthen tree management on motorways, to improve road safety.
“Some trees are already tilted,” he said. “They could be knocked down by the wind … Also, some tree species grow very fast, but also fall easily.”
Wong said that before the accident all franchised bus operators had been required to submit risk assessments for each bus route within the next year.
It was one of 45 recommendations in a report released by the Independent Review Committee on Hong Kong’s Franchised Bus Service in January this year. The committee was set up after a bus crash in Tai Po that killed 19 and injured more than 60 in early 2018.
Wong said 1,100 of the city’s more than 6,000 buses were expected to be fitted with seat belts, including 700 that need retrofitting, another safety measure recommended in the report.
