Man, 72, critical after being hit by runaway truck

[WildestDreams]

Man, 72, critical after being hit by runaway truck in Ho Man Tin

Another two suffer minor injuries after truck under tow careers downhill

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 24 September, 2014, 12:12pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 25 September, 2014, 4:59am

Clifford Lo [email protected]

The truck smashed into a traffic island after rolling down the hill. Photo: David Wong

Three people were injured when a nine-tonne truck under tow broke free and careered 80 metres downhill.

The truck was being pulled up a steep street in Ho Man Tin shortly before 9am yesterday when two harnesses securing it to the tow vehicle snapped.

A 72-year-old man was in critical condition last night after being hit on the head by debris as the truck mowed down a traffic light and railings on a safety island before crashing into a wall and toppling on its side.

A woman who saw the accident said the elderly man had been alone on the safety island.

The two men were waiting at the traffic island to cross the road when the truck crashed. Photo: David Wong

"It appeared he saw the truck coming but he was apparently frozen in position when the vehicle crashed into the safety island," she said.

A 22-year-old student who tripped and fell as he ran from the truck, and the tow vehicle's driver, who tried in vain to jump into the truck to pull on the handbrake, suffered minor injuries.

The truck was being towed up Fat Kwong Street on the way to a government inspection centre after being involved in an earlier accident in Yau Ma Tei.

It came to rest at the junction of Fat Kwong Street and Shun Ying Street.

Senior Inspector Sun Lun-yum of the Kowloon West traffic unit said police were investigating whether the fabric of the harnesses had become worn.

"A 72-year-old man was hit by debris in the head when he waited at the safety island to cross the road," Sun said.

"A university student, 22, tried to run away from the path of the truck and tripped over on the pavement."

Debris was scattered across the carriageway and police closed the affected section of Fat Kwong Street for more than three hours. The Kowloon West traffic unit is investigating.

Three people were injured in the earlier accident on Gascoigne Road in Yau Ma Tei when the truck collided with another truck and a double-decker bus at about 7am.

In 2012, an elderly woman was killed and two passers-by injured when a broken- down truck rolled down a slope and crashed into a grocery shop in Western district.

The vehicle had just been unhooked from a tow truck that was not powerful enough to pull it uphill.