- One person in critical condition, another serious, after collision on Friday afternoon near entrance of tunnel in Kwun Tong involving four coaches and truck
- Primary school students among those observed receiving treatment by paramedics at scene
A passenger is helped out of a coach involved in the five-vehicle pile-up that occurred near Tseung Kwan O Tunnel on Friday. Photo: K.Y. ChengA five-vehicle pile-up near an entrance of Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O Tunnel left 87 people injured, including primary school students, on Friday afternoon.
One person’s condition was critical, while another man’s was reported as serious as of 3.30pm, according to a government spokeswoman. Both were admitted to United Christian Hospital.
Four coaches and a truck were involved in the collision, which took place in Kwun Tong shortly before 1pm. The vehicles were shunted into each other on the three-lane carriageway of Tseung Kwan O Road.
According to the spokeswoman earlier, more than 70 people suffered minor injuries and another 15 were seriously hurt in the incident.
Three of the coaches were carrying about 180 pupils and teachers from SKH Tak Tin Lee Shiu Keung Primary School to its Lam Tin campus after an outing in Ma On Shan. The fourth was carrying mostly elderly residents from Upper Ngau Tau Kok Estate for a day of sightseeing.
According to the school, 10 of the pupils from Primary Three and Four levels suffered injuries to their heads or hands while another 20 students complained of feeling unwell. They were taken to hospital for treatment.
A girl, who complained of pain in her left hand, said she saw the vehicle in front suddenly stop before the coach she was travelling in crashed into it.
“Some of the pupils were crying and some were screaming at the time before teachers comforted us,” she said.
One of the injured passengers said his group was on its way to Sai Kung for sightseeing after a visit to Chi Lin Nunnery and lunch in Diamond Hill.
“Suddenly there were loud bangs and the vehicle shook badly before it came to a halt. It was a mess in the vehicle with some of the passengers tossed to the floor from their seats,” said the elderly man, who complained of arm injuries.
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The accident occurred when the vehicles were shunted into each other on the first lane of the three-lane carriageway near the entrance of the Tseung Kwan O Tunnel.
A driver, whose coach was part of the pile-up, said he was behind a vehicle when it came to a halt, but those behind him had failed to stop and slammed his bus into the one in front.
The man, who was unhurt, said he had been taking pupils back to school from Ma On Shan.
Shortly before 2pm, a woman with a bandaged right hand was observed being carried from a coach by firefighters and placed on a stretcher.
A container truck from the company Jumbo Faith Logistics was behind the second vehicle. It appeared to have sustained the most damage among the five vehicles. The windscreen and side windows of the truck were smashed and its oil tank was seen hanging down from the vehicle’s undercarriage.
Fung Hon-pong, 43, the company’s manager, told the SCMP that he arrived at the scene after receiving a call from on of the firm’s drivers, 60, who reported he was slightly injured. He added the truck’s front had been pressed into the coach in front of it, making a four centimetre dent.
“The driver told me his stomach was hurt by the steering wheel. Luckily he was conscious. But the company vehicle may need a huge repair,” Fung said.
An SCMP reporter at the scene noted the smell of petrol in the air. A thin streak of the liquid was spotted on the road where the vehicles had collided.
Police have laid sawdust on some parts of the road to make the surface less slippery.
The force said no one had been trapped in the vehicles and officers were still investigating the cause of the incident.
All Tseung Kwan O-bound lanes of the road were closed to traffic earlier, but authorities began reopening to traffic in the afternoon.