Flags at half-mast as Hong Kong mourns 19 killed in bus crash
Print Edition
Flags were flown at half-mast yesterday morning at the Hong Kong government headquarters to mourn the 19 people who died in Saturday’s bus crash in the New Territories.
Hong Kong’s Executive Council and Legislative Council observed a moment of silence Tuesday morning. Government departments had also been told that they could make arrangements to do likewise.
The Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Special Administrative Region, the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry, and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Garrison also observed a period of silence at around 10am.
A number of government department websites and local newspapers were turned black and white yesterday.
Speaking ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee Zhang Dejiang, had conveyed through the liaison office their sympathies and expressed their condolences to the bereaved families, as well as to those injured in the accident.
The double-decker bus overturned on Saturday evening on a road in the Tai Po district in the New Territories, killing 19 people and injuring more than 60.
Lam announced on Monday that the Lunar New Year fireworks display scheduled for Saturday would be canceled as an “expression of citywide mourning.”
She also said that principal government officials and herself would refrain from attending any major celebratory events over the Spring Festival holiday.
“This bus incident is an extremely tragic one, and in the last two days we have heard from various quarters ... suggesting that in order to pay respect to the deceased and the victims, and also for the community to express their grief, it was not very appropriate to continue with the Chinese New Year fireworks on the second day of the Lunar New Year,” Lam told media yesterday before the Executive Council meeting.
“I have taken into account their suggestion, their views and the general sentiments in the community and come to the decision that we would cancel this year’s Chinese New Year fireworks.”
Lam said the sponsoring organization of the fireworks show has been notified, and it supported the decision by donating the funds left to the victims’ families.
Since Sunday about HK$42.5 million (about US5.43 million) have been raised by a number of charities to help the victims, according to Lam.
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