Two people have died and 16 were injured after a bus rear-ended a lorry which had stopped on the West Kowloon Highway.
At around 10:22 am on Monday, Citybus no. 967 bound for Hong Kong Island crashed into a mid-sized lorry on the highway near Elements mall. The bus driver, surnamed So, was killed and the front of the bus was destroyed.
The lorry driver was declared dead after being rushed to the hospital. Police said that the lorry had broken down in the middle of the highway, and the driver put objects on the road to warn other drivers.
Ten female passengers and 5 male passengers on the bus suffered slight injuries, and were sent to Kwong Wah Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. One female passenger on the lorry was also lightly injured.
According to Chief Inspector Wong Sai-kwan, the bus driver was 59 and had worked at Citybus for 17 years. The driver started work at 7:06 am and the accident happened on the second time he was driving that route on Monday.
It is unclear whether the bus driver was unwell at the time of the crash, Wong said.
Dashcam video from a nearby vehicle showed the lorry had stopped with its rear door open, but the bus did not brake in time.
Wong said that it was very dangerous for a driver to stay at a vehicle that had broken down in the middle of the road.
“We believe the truck driver was putting something on the road to alert other road users,” he said. “We would strongly advise road users… if they encounter a similar situation, they should walk to the roadside and seek for help.”
Local media reported that the truck had already been stationary for at least 10 minutes before the crash happened.
Wong said that the police will investigate the bus driver’s physical state, as well as the mechanical condition of the bus.
