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HONG KONG: Eighteen people were killed and at least 45 were injured
when a coach believed to be taking elderly passengers to a religious
ceremony overturned in Hong Kong on Thursday, police and local media
said.
There was no initial word on the cause of the
accident but a police spokesman told Agence France-Presse that the
driver was arrested. Television footage showed dazed and bloodied
passengers being pulled out of the wreckage.
It was not immediately known if the victims were
from Hong Kong, which was celebrating the May Day holiday on the eve
of the Olympic torch relay through the southern Chinese territory.
Some reports said it was a tour bus.
“The coach was approaching a roundabout and
appears to have lost control and overturned,” the police spokesman
said.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang said
the city was in a “heavy mood” after the crash, which happened
near the town of Sai Kung in the east of the city. Most of the
injured had suffered broken bones, he said.
“This is the most serious accident in recent
years,” Tsang said outside one of several hospitals treating the
injured, after speaking to some of the survivors.
Major accidents are rare in Hong Kong, where
roads tend to be narrow and speeds are severely restricted. But the
roads crisscrossing the more rural areas, such as Sai Kung, are
dotted with accident black spots.
Television footage showed the bus had crashed
into a barrier on the side of the road. The roof of the bus was
collapsed and the side windows were smashed in.
Cable TV said most of the victims were elderly
passengers on their way to a religious event.
The crash happened around 9 a.m., just a day
before the controversial relay of the Olympic torch to mark the
Beijing Games in August makes its way through Hong Kong.
-- AFP
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