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Eight injured in morning MTR derailment
Source: SCMP/On.cc/Youtube
A train was derailed near a major interchange in Hong Kong on Tuesday, leading to a partial suspension of the East Rail line and two investigations.
Services between Mong Kok East and Hung Hom stations were shut down from about 8.30am on Tuesday after three of the train’s 12 carriages came off the track, rail operator the MTR Corporation said. It was approaching Hong Hom when the accident happened. Eight of the about 500 passengers on board were injured, with one man and four women later sent to hospital with a sore neck or shoulders, or cuts to their arms, according to the fire service.
Calling the incident “extremely serious”, Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan, who was on the scene from about 10.30am, pledged a full official investigation, while MTR managers vowed to set up an investigative panel of their own. MTR Corp operations director Adi Lau Tin-shing apologised on behalf of the company. “For the inconvenience caused to our passengers due to this incident ... we offer our sincere apology. For our injured passengers, we extend our deepest sympathy,” Lau said. It was understood the derailment happened at a diverting point, where trains are directed to different platforms or other locations, their direction and speed controlled by computer.
Alfred Sit Wing-hang, director of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, which would investigate the accident on the government’s behalf, said he hoped the probe would be done in three to six months. “We are striving to conduct an independent, comprehensive and speedy investigation in order to get to the bottom of the truth,” he said. Pledging full cooperation, Lau said the MTR Corp would set up an investigative panel of external experts, which would also conduct an in-depth probe. He said his staff would first have to scour the train and track for evidence. Then they would have to arrange cranes to move the train so it could be sent back to the depot for further checks, he said.Chief of operations engineering Tony Lee Kar-yun said the removal would pose challenges as staff would have to move the battered carriages through a web of overhead electricity cables.Lau therefore expected repairs to take some time: “The services at Mong Kok East are unlikely to resume by today, although we will try our best.”Given the city’s ongoing anti-government protests, during which hardline demonstrators have taken aim at train stations, Chan was asked about the possibility the derailment was orchestrated by protesters.
A female passenger described the moment of derailment as an explosion, before she was stretchered away from Hung Hom station. A man, who gave his surname as Kwok, was seen at the station in a wheelchair. He said he had knocked his head when the train derailed. Kwok told reporters he heard a strange noise, after which the carriage began shaking and veering from side to side. The carriage he was in held 40 to 50 passengers, mostly women, and at least one child. Kwok said he helped them leave before he was tended to by first-aid workers. Another man, who was on the carriage next to one that broke off, said there was no announcement or guidance from the train conductor or MTR staff and passengers made the decision to leave the carriage by themselves as dust, smoke and debris began filling the air.
Images circulating online showed passengers leaving the carriage, which stood across two sets of tracks, through a damaged train door. They were seen walking along the tracks to safety.A senior source at the corporation said earlier it had not found any suspicious objects on the track. The area where the derailment happened was closed off, the source added, hinting that it would have been difficult for anyone to get in and cause disruption.Lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting urged the MTR Corp to thoroughly investigate the incident.“It is fortunate there have not been any serious injuries or casualties, but if the train was going at high speed, the situation could have been worse,” Lam said, speaking at a briefing outside the Legislative Council building.
Pan-democrat lawmaker Wu Chi-wai, who was also at the briefing, said the MTR Corp should make sure the signalling system was working in sync with the track diversion system to prevent further incidents. Trains on the West Rail line were also affected, but normal service was resumed by 11.40am. Tuesday’s incident was the second time a train carrying passengers had derailed in the MTR Corp’s 40-year history.It was also the corporation’s second major incident this year. In March, two trains without passengers crashed during an out-of-hours service trial of a new signalling system near Central station, causing services between Central and Admiralty stations to close for 48 hours on the Tsuen Wan line.
Police arrest man suspected of flashing boycotting students
Source: Coconuts HK/On.cc
A Hong Kong man was arrested yesterday for allegedly flashing his junk at a group of students taking part in a citywide school boycott, “daring” them to take photos and put them online. Well, unsurprisingly, they did.
Police soon picked up a 57-year-old suspect in the case, surnamed So, at the Fu Heng Estate in Tai Po at about 4:45pm yesterday afternoon
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Carmaney Santiago crowned Miss Hong Kong 2019
Source: Ming Pao/On.cc
Video: HKTVB
2019 Miss Hong Kong Winners list :
Winner : Carmaney Santiago
First Runner up : Fei Wong
Second Runner Up: Kelly Ku
Miss Photogenic : Fei Wong
Miss Friendship Kelly Ku : Blossom Chan
Most Favourite Miss Hong Kong : Kelly Ku
Red versus black: HK protests in Canada
Source: ejinsight.com/CBC.ca
Thank God, the mass protest in Hong Kong on Sunday was a peaceful one as police kept their distance from the demonstrators. In Canada, meanwhile, pro-democracy demonstrators and Beijing sympathizers were just a heartbeat away from actual fisticuffs – or worse – as they gathered in the same venue to air their respective sentiments about the political crisis in Hong Kong.
About 500 black-clad people, adopting the color of protest in Hong Kong, trooped to the Broadway-City Hall SkyTrain Station in Vancouver on Saturday to show their solidarity with those fighting for democracy in a city more than 10,000 kilometers away. However, to the surprise of the pro-democracy demonstrators, a larger pro-Beijing crowd was also at the scene under the “Love Hong Kong, Love China” banner. Mostly wearing red shirts and waving Chinese flags, the demonstrators shouted slogans against violence and independence in Hong Kong.
According to a Sing Tao Vancouver report, the two sides even shook hands at the beginning, but soon their opposing views about what is happening in Hong Kong came to the fore. The black-clad crowd asked those in red what they were fighting for or protesting against as both of them wanted peace and no violence. But the red shirts started calling those in black “traitors” and asked them to remove their masks and sing the Chinese national anthem. The black shirts would not take such taunts sitting down and started responding in kind. “This is Canada!”, they shouted. “Go back to China!” “Shame!”
It was not the first time that opposite demonstrations by Hong Kong immigrants and those from mainland China happened in Canada. This summer, similar protests were held in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Halifax and St. John’s, although the one in Vancouver was the most tense. Still, it’s unlikely that differences between the two sides would erupt in violence. Despite their opposing views, they manage to hold their tempers and live peacefully with each other. Besides, tolerance and mutual respect are the abiding traits that guide Canadians, although Beijing thinks that Canadian officials should mind their own business and stop meddling in the affairs of Hong Kong and China.
Pro-dems release footage of police beating elderly detainee who was tied to hospital bed
Source: Coconuts HK/On.cc
A pro-democracy political party has accused Hong Kong police of torturing an elderly suspect by smearing his face with a urine-soaked cloth and punching him repeatedly in the genitals, among other things, while the man was tied to a hospital bed.
The man in question, a 62-year-old surnamed Chung, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer at about 11pm on June 25 after allegedly getting into a drunken fight in Sheung Shui. When police arrived at the scene, he reportedly yelled “dirty cops” or “black cops” — increasingly common insults for the force amid Hong Kong’s ongoing protest movement — before allegedly assaulting an officer. After his arrest, Chung was sent to North District Hospital to recover, and was tied to a hospital bed and put in a single room as he was behaving erratically.
The video shows the officers using a police baton to prod Chung’s genitals, punching him repeatedly in the crotch and abdomen, shoving their batons in his mouth, twisting his wrist, flashing a strobe light in his eyes, and rubbing his face with what Chung’s children later said was a piece of clothing soaked in his own urine. At certain points in the video, a third police officer can be seen entering and leaving the room, but doesn’t take part in the assault.
Chung’s two sons attended this morning’s press conference, where they said their father had wet himself because he was not allowed to use the toilet. “They wanted him to drink his own urine, that’s what they told him,” the youngest son said, adding that his father said the officers threatened him and his family members, saying they knew their full names and addresses. The eldest son even accused the officers of planning the assault beforehand, adding that the officers can be seen wearing surgical gloves throughout the ordeal. The youngest son said that on top of the physical injuries their dad sustained — which included bruises and a broken right-hand ring finger — the incident affected him psychologically as well. After he came out of the hospital, the relationship between my parents got worse. My mom is unable to sleep at night, and he’s too scared to go out because the officers revealed they knew our full names and addresses,” he said. The youngest Chung said that they asked Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting for help as they felt they had no other choice, and didn’t feel confident that police would handle their complaint properly. Lam told reporters that after being approached by the family, he and his colleagues had been lobbying the Hospital Authority for footage from the ward for the past two months, but only got the footage last week
Although Chung’s arrest was not related to the city’s long-running pro-democracy protest movement, police have come under intense fire in recent weeks for alleged brutality in dealing with demonstrators. Lam today expressed concerns that those who were arrested for taking part in the demonstrations may also have been subjected to similar treatment or worse by police officers. Lam accused the officers of abusing their power, saying it was “extremely disgraceful and shameful for any police officer to commit the offense of torturing.”
Lam described the incident as “one of the darkest moments in the history of Hong Kong police,” and urged Police Commissioner Stephen Lo to suspend the officers involved and carry out an independent investigation. He also encouraged Lo to bring criminal charges against the men, accusing them of misconduct in public office and torture, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Calling the incident a “serious scandal,” Lam said it raised questions as to whether the behavior on display was “just the tip of the iceberg, and the other arrestees in recent months may be tortured by other police officers.” “I urge all the police officers to learn a painful lesson from this case: stop your colleagues’ or your own brutality at once.” He added that he and the family would be reporting the incident to police headquarters today, and that Chung remembered the police identification number of one of the officers.
With public anger towards the police force at what is likely an all-time high over their
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