An overcrowded tour bus lost control on a slope and flipped over yesterday in Hong Kong, killing 18 members of a local religious group and injuring 45 others. The driver was arrested on charges of dangerous driving.
After visiting the injured, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) told reporters it was the city’s worst traffic accident in recent years.
A double-decker bus crash killed 21 people in 2003.
PHOTO: AP
Local TV reports from yesterday’s crash scene showed mostly elderly passengers covered in blood and wincing in pain as they were being pulled from the vehicle.
The battered bus’ windows were shattered, and it was leaning against a road barrier in the suburban district of Sai Kung.
“We’re still investigating the cause of the accident. We will look at whether it was due to speeding or whether there was anything wrong with the parts of the bus,” said Ho Chak-kan, acting police superintendent.
Ho said the driver was arrested and accused of dangerous driving that caused death. But Hong Kong Cable TV quoted the driver as saying the brakes failed before the accident.
The bus, with a maximum legal capacity of 55 people, was carrying 62 passengers on the religious group’s outing during the public May Day holiday, fire official Li Hung-sam told reporters.
Li said the roof of the bus collapsed after hitting a road barrier at a traffic circle and that hindered rescue efforts.
“Firemen had to climb inside the wreckage to save all the passengers. Inside the wreckage, all the passengers are trapped by the distorted seats,” Li said.
Most of the victims were critically injured, suffering head injuries, severe bleeding and broken bones, Li said. Most of those who died were women, he said.
The accident happened as the bus travelled from Kowloon to Hong Kong’s eastern New Territories, a seaside stretch that is heavily visited by tour groups on public holidays and weekends.
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
HAZARDOUS CONDITION: The typhoon’s sheer size, with winds extending 443km from its center, slowed down the ability of responders to help communities, an official said The US Coast Guard was searching for six people after losing contact with their disabled boat off the coast of Guam following Typhoon Sinlaku. The crew of the 44m dry cargo vessel, the US-registered Mariana, on Wednesday notified the coast guard that the boat had lost its starboard engine and needed assistance, Petty Officer 3rd Class Avery Tibbets said yesterday. The coast guard set up a one-hour communication schedule with the vessel, but lost contact on Thursday. A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft was launched to search for the six people on board, but it had to return to Guam because of
RSS