An MTR official has confirmed that no suspicious objects were found on the tracks in Hung Hom, where a train carrying about 500 passengers derailed as it entered the station during rush hour on Tuesday.
Speaking on RTHK’s Millennium program today, Tony Lee, MTR Corp’s chief of operations engineering, said no foreign objects had been found on the track but confirmed that a fourth crack had been found, after an MTR press conference the night before had identified three.
Lee told the program that workers found the fourth crack — about one to two millimeters — at the site overnight. He said it was more likely the cracks were formed as a result of the incident, but wouldn’t rule out the possibility that they were there before the derailment.
Also taking part in the program was Cheung Kim-ching, assistant director of Hong Kong’s Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, or EMDB, who said that two of the four damaged spots on the track had split by three to 4.5 centimeters.
While the EMDB is carrying out what could be a six-month-long investigation into the cause of the crash, which caused eight injuries, that hasn’t stopped people from speculating as to causes.
Perhaps the most sensational speculation so far came from pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao, which published an evidence-free front-page report on the derailing with the headline “Bizarre Derailment: Terror Attack on the MTR?”
The report speculated that “black clothed rioters” could have caused the accident by throwing debris onto the tracks, citing a number of incidents in the past week where pro-democracy protesters were seen setting fires outside MTR stations or otherwise damaging station facilities.
They also cited unverified claims about “thugs throwing iron bars and debris onto the tracks, seriously threatening railway safety.”
Separately, an AFP Factcheck report debunked a widely-circulated Facebook post that alleged protesters in black clothes and gas masks were seen on the train tracks near the station. In fact, the photo in question was taken during a protest at Tin Shui Wai last month.
East Rail line services between Hung Hom and Mong Kok East Stations were partially suspended today allow clean-up operations to take place. At 6:05am this morning, the MTR announced that only one platform, instead of two, would be in operation.
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