Hong Kong bus crash kills 18 Christians
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hong Kong bus crash kills 18 Christians*
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 1, 2008; 2:50 PM
HONG KONG -- A tour bus lost control going down a hill and flipped over
Thursday in Hong Kong, killing 18 members of a local Christian group and
injuring 44 others. The driver was arrested on charges of dangerous driving.
Local TV reports showed mostly elderly passengers covered in blood and
wincing in pain as they were being pulled from the battered bus. The
vehicle's windows were shattered and it was leaning against a road
barrier in the suburban district of Sai Kung.
"The driver kept turning the steering wheel, then he just crashed," one
passenger wearing a bloodstained white shirt told Hong Kong Cable TV.
"The bus was going down the hill. It was pretty fast."
Eighteen passengers died, said Ho Chak-kan, acting police superintendent.
"From the information we've collected at this stage, the deaths of these
persons probably resulted from dangerous driving," Ho said.
But Hong Kong Cable TV quoted the driver, who was among the injured, as
saying the brakes failed before the accident.
The bus was carrying 61 passengers on a May Day outing by the Christian
group when it lost control going down the hill. It smashed into a light
post before flipping over, Ho said.
Police initially said the vehicle was overcrowded, but later corrected
themselves, saying its capacity was 61.
Fire official Li Hung-sam told reporters the roof of the bus collapsed,
hindering rescue efforts.
Most of the victims were critically injured, with head injuries, severe
bleeding and broken bones, Li said. Most of those who died were women,
he added.
It was the city's worst traffic accident since a double-decker bus crash
killed 21 people in 2003.