A 55-year-old woman became the fifth victim who died from Friday’s fatal traffic accident in Pat Heung as the truck driver involved was denied bail at Tuen Mun Magistracy.
Cheng Shiu-ling was the grandmother of the three-month-old Cheung Tsz-kiu, who died at the scene, and mother of Hong Kong women’s team footballer Gigi Tang Ying-chi, 24.
Cheng was certified dead by Tuen Mun Hospital staff at 16:05pm.
The deadly collision at the intersection of Kam Sheung Road and Tung Wui Road on Friday afternoon has also claimed three lives at the scene — Tang Tung-hei, 58, Chan Kwai-chun, 53, and Chan Kwai-ying — and injured 13 others.
Four women remain hospitalized in a stable condition, while Gigi Tang is still critical.
Truck driver Cheung Man-leung, 70, yesterday kept his head low during the brief court hearing at Tuen Mun Magistracy.
He was not required to enter a plea on one count of dangerous driving causing death.
The case has been adjourned until February 16, pending further investigation, involving the collection of autopsies on the deceased, DNA reports and a reconstruction of the traffic accident.
In the meantime, Cheung was being detained at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, after magistrate Winnie Lau Yee-wan rejected his bail application.
Meanwhile, Yan Chai Hospital Board chief executive Alfred Wong Wai-kin and chairman Vanessa Lam Wai-shan visited Wang Toi Shan village in Pat Heung, home to at least ten of the victims in the accident.
There they distributed HK$100,000 worth of token of solidarity from its Yan Chai Emergency Assistance Relief Fund to family members of three dead and eight injured victims.
Among those who registered for the fund was mechanic Tang Pak-ming, 41, whose 9-year-old daughter Tang Kei-yin survived the crash with only minor scratches to her limbs.
Tang recalled: “I was so scared when I arrived at the scene. I was afraid of losing my daughter.”
The father of two said his daughter adopted a brace position to cover her head with both hands, upon hearing the minibus driver’s shout and seeing the collision.
“When the vehicle stabilised, she realized it was really chaotic. The bus had turned. So she climbed back up and later told me she wanted to save people. The driver saw her and carried her out of the car,” Tang recalled. “She was really lucky.”
The girl at the time was traveling home alone after school, carrying a bulky 10-pound school bag that later shielded her as it slid over her head during the accident.
That night, she told her father:”I’m scared. I don’t want to take the minibus again.”
But Tang said she is quickly recovering from the trauma as social workers from her school, SKH Kam Tin St Joseph Primary School, began counseling her immediately at the crash site.
“But for the time being, we’ll take the minibus less often,” he said. “I want to help her walk out of the shadow."
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