Two Killed, 16 Injured In West Kowloon Bus Crash

Two people died and 16 others were injured on Monday morning when a Citybus double-decker smashed into the back of a lorry which had broken down in West Kowloon.

The accident happened at around 10:20am near the Elements shopping mall.

The number 967 bus was travelling from Tin Shui Wai to Admiralty when it ploughed into a lorry which had broken down in the middle lane of the West Kowloon Highway.

Video footage appears to show that the bus driver didn't even brake.

The front of the bus was severely damaged, with part of the driver's cab lying some distance away.

Both the bus driver, who was 59, and the truck driver, who was 54, were killed.

Fifteen passengers on the bus and a woman in the lorry suffered minor injuries.

Chief police inspector Wong Sai-kwan said the truck driver was inside the back of his vehicle when the accident happened.

"We believe the truck driver was trying to put something on the road in order to alert the other road users not to crash into the malfunctioned truck," Wong said.

"We would strongly advise drivers or road users if they encounter a similar situation to walk to the roadside and seek help, rather than putting something on the road in order to alert people ... especially on a highway."

Wong said it was too early to tell what caused the crash, but officers would be looking into the bus driver's physical and psychological health, and at whether the bus had any mechanical problems.

Citybus's Head of Operations, Chung Chak-man, said the bus driver had a "good driving record" and had been on the 967 route for over a decade.

Chung dismissed concerns that the driver could have been overworked, saying he had had around 11 hours of rest before his shift started at 7am.

But he noted that the driver was off work sick on Friday because of a respiratory tract infection.

There have been a string of deadly bus crashes in recent years, including one in Tai Po early last year that left 19 people dead.

In January, an independent expert panel accused the government of having a poor oversight of franchised bus services. It made a series of recommendations aimed at improving bus safety, including putting a cap on drivers' working hours and installing CCTV cameras on all buses.

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