One of the dancers who was critically injured while performing at a concert of Hong Kong boy band Mirror has regained consciousness, his parents said on Sunday.
Li Kai-yin, who is better known as “Mo,” suffered major injuries to his neck, according to local media, after he was hit by a giant screen that fell during the fourth in a series of 12 shows by the popular group last month. He has undergone two surgeries at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
“Kai-yin is conscious now, and can engage in simple communications with others,” according to a statement from Li’s father, who is a pastor. The statement, which called for people to pray for Li, was widely shared on social media.
Li remains in a critical condition but authorities said that his vital signs were stable.
“[We] hope with the grace of God, he will recover soon, meet everybody and be on stage again,” the statement read. Li’s parents also said they hoped that the interdepartmental task force set up by the government would give “constructive advice” following its investigation, in a bid to better protect the safety of other performers in the future.
Li’s girlfriend, Natalie So, who is better known as So Ching and is a member of Hong Kong girl group Collar, made her first social media post over the weekend since the accident happened. So posted an Instagram story with a lyric as caption, saying “wait for you to come back and listen to me repeating this melody.”
In a previous statement, Li’s parents said that So had been an “enormous support” for their son.
‘Metal fatigue’
Police said on Sunday they took away items from the Hong Kong Coliseum as evidence, including three stands, six LED monitors and a broken screw.
“Our work is not done yet, we may come back in the coming days to gather more evidence,” Superintendent of West Kowloon crime unit Alan Chung said on Sunday evening.
Authorities said on Friday that “metal fatigue” of a suspension cord may have caused the large LED monitor to fall.
“After inspecting [it] with a microscope, at the place where the suspension cord broke, there were signs of – we believed one of the possible causes of the incident may be metal fatigue of the cord, resulting it to snap,” said Lee Tsz-chun, assistant director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, who led the task force.
Lee said more tests needed to be done to confirm the actual cause of the accident, adding that authorities “cannot rule out any other possibilities” and would investigate “in different directions.”
Dancers’ employment status
The accident sparked debate regarding the labour rights of dancers, including fears that they were considered self-employed and would not be covered by the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance.
Labour chief Chris Sun on Saturday said the Labour Department was helping the dancers to figure our their employment status by liaising with them and the companies that contracted them. He said that workers who sign a contract claiming to be self-employed may not necessarily be self-employed.
“It depends on the facts, rather than what kind of documents they signed… We hope that with our mediation, they will be able to determine later on whether or not these dancers are self-employed or they are indeed employees, ” Sun said. “Ultimately, if they cannot come to a consensus about their status, eventually it has to be determined by court.”
On an RTHK programme, Sun said his department’s investigation also involved determining whether anyone needed to be held accountable under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, adding that it may take follow-up actions including prosecution.
He said it was hard to determine how long the investigation would take as authorities were still gathering evidence. The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung earlier said an initial probe was expected to be completed within two weeks.
MakerVille, Mirror’s management company and one of the main organisers of the concerts, later apologised for the accident and cancelled the remaining shows.
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