Elderly Hong Kong woman struck and killed by truck marks second fatal collision near Lam Tin shopping centre in two months
- The 81-year-old was only a short distance from the pedestrian crossing when she stepped off the kerb, police say
- A 76-year-old woman was struck and killed by a truck just 100 metres from Tuesday’s incident in late January
An elderly woman has died after being run over by a truck outside a Hong Kong shopping centre on Tuesday.
It was the second fatal traffic accident on the same road in as many months, prompting police to urge pedestrians, particularly the elderly, to use designated pedestrian crossings and comply with traffic laws.
The incident occurred shortly after 7.30am, as the woman, 81, crossed Kai Tin Road outside the Kai Tin Shopping Centre in Lam Tin.
“It was a short distance from the pedestrian crossing area when she walked off the pavement,” a police source said.
“As she was trying to cross the road in front of the truck, the vehicle started moving as the traffic light turned green and it hit her.”
The woman, who was trapped under the vehicle after being run over, was later freed by firefighters.
Having suffered serious head injuries, she was taken unconscious to United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong, where she was certified dead shortly before 9am.
Police arrested the truck driver, 51, for causing death by dangerous driving.
On January 23, a 76-year-old woman died after being hit by a truck on the same road, just 100 metres from the site of Tuesday’s incident.
Three killed, three injured in separate crashes on Hong Kong streets
Tuesday’s crash was the city’s third traffic fatality in two days. On March 28, an out-of-control car struck a 55-year-old man before colliding with a Light Rail train in Tuen Mun. The man later died in hospital.
The following day, a taxi driver, 69, died after his cab rammed into a bus parked at the bus terminal on Tung Lung Road in Wong Tai Sin.
Separately, a 39-year-old man was knocked unconscious by a KMB double-decker on On Sau Road in Sau Mau Ping at 10.50am on Tuesday. He was then taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei for treatment, where he later regained consciousness.
Police figures show 23 people have been killed in 22 fatal traffic accidents across the city in the first two months of this year. In the whole of last year, 113 people died in 107 traffic accidents.
Last December, six passengers were killed and 39 injured after a double-decker bus ploughed into a roadside tree in Sheung Shui. The impact ripped away most of its roof.
