Garage explosion in Wong Tai Sin leaves three dead, nine injured
Cause of explosion unknown as firefighters battle blaze for three hours
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 26 April, 2015, 6:41pm
UPDATED : Monday, 27 April, 2015, 1:46am
Phila Siu and Danny Mok
The garage owner and a cab driver who had just dropped his vehicle off for repair were among those killed in the explosion. Photo: Sam Tsang
Three people were killed and nine others injured in an explosion at a Wong Tai Sin garage yesterday afternoon.
Police received reports of loud bangs and thick smoke coming from the garage on Wan Fung Street at 3.40pm. Firefighters arrived five minutes later and put the blaze out at 6.28pm.
Bystanders said the explosion, which took place in a garage on the ground floor of a five-storey residential building, was so loud they thought a bomb had gone off, adding they heard about 20 bangs after the initial blast.
Witnesses described the blast as "very loud...like the explosion of LPG gas. The windows of the ground floor [of the garage] all shattered." Photo: SCMP Pictures
Some windows of the flats above - home to 22 families - were shattered and at least seven vehicles parked nearby were damaged.
"I thought [a building had] collapsed," said Tommy Law, who was inside a church about 30 metres from the blast. "I immediately went outside to see what had happened. There was fire coming out of the garage and [thick] smoke."
Watch: Footage from the scene of the explosion (via Wong Nike on Youtube)
An apparently injured man was seen at the back of a car outside the garage.
Among those killed were the garage owner, 47, and a cab driver, 61, who had just handed in his vehicle for repair.
A woman, 65, who owned a glass shop next door to the garage was also killed. Her husband had gone outside and just returned when the blast happened. He sustained minor cuts.
Nine people were injured, one critically, police said, with six people in various hospitals last night. The critically injured man had been a worker at the garage. A fireman sustained a minor hand injury.
Kong Ping-lam, deputy chief fire officer in Kowloon, said eight teams of firefighters were sent to the scene. He added that the garage's attic and the building's staircase had both collapsed and firefighters had to enter through the garage's windows.
He said the cause of the explosion was unknown and no combustible materials had been found in the garage.
A screencap of help arriving at the scene of the incident. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Assistant Wong Tai Sin police district commander Cheung Hoi-yan said officers would investigate whether the case was an accident or if it involved criminal elements.
More than 120 people were evacuated after the explosion, including 99 elderly people from a care centre nearby.
A man who runs a shop that sells car tyres just a short distance away from the garage described the owner as a man respected by his staff.
"He is a friendly man who treats people very well," he said.
Another man living nearby also said he thought the explosion was a bomb.
"It was really dramatic. I immediately went down to see what happened," said Andy Wo, 50.
