The grieving widow of a bus driver who died in an accident on a Hong Kong highway made a tearful plea for the bus company he worked for to take responsibility for his death.
So Kwok-wah, 59, was behind the wheel of the double-decker 967 Citybus from Tin Shui Wai to Admiralty yesterday morning when it rammed into the back of a broken-down box truck in the middle the West Kowloon Highway.
Inside the back of the stopped vehicle was truck driver, Liem Dam-hung, 56, who had gone into the back of truck for objects to place in the road as makeshift traffic cones.
So was pronounced dead at the scene, while Liem was declared dead after being rushed to the hospital. Sixteen people were also injured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ZDc0-5TEA&frags=pl%2Cwn
So leaves behind a wife, and three children — a daughter, and two sons — aged 4 to 11 years old.
In a tearful video interview with Apple Daily, posted online this morning, So’s wife — identified only as “Ms. So” — said that she has a long-term illness and needs to take cardiovascular drugs.
“He works for more than 10 hours every day, it’s a tough life, but he will, but no matter how tough it is, he will do it for the kids. Citybus took away my husband’s life,” she said.
She went on to add that So was a good husband and father, and despite working every day, would make time to play and spend time with their children.
“I would rather die,” she tearfully added, saying that she now has to raise the children by herself and isn’t sure how to make a living.
In a more expansive clip of the same interview posted by on.cc, Ms. So goes so far as to call Citybus “very wicked.”
She said Citybus had called her about 10am yesterday to tell her her husband died, but she hasn’t been contacted since by either Citybus or trade unions about any further arrangements.
Ms. So added that her husband’s mother is in a nursing home and hasn’t yet been informed of what happened to her son, saying she didn’t know how to respond when she asks.
Apple Daily also tried to interview Liem’s family, but his widow — who was one of the 16 people who sustained light injuries in the accident — declined to comment.
Citybus expressed sadness over the accident, saying it would offer assistance to the injured and to the families of So and Liem.
Apple Daily reported that the Labour Department has also been in touch with the families.
Police are still looking into what caused the accident, and were also looking into So’s mental and physical state at the time of the crash.
The Standard, reports that William Chung Chak-man, Citybus’ head of operations, said that So had actually taken sick leave on Friday because of an upper respiratory tract infection but was back to work the following day, having apparently recovered.
Reader Interactions