Police have released a cleaner suspected of opening a window that subsequently fell from the 16th floor of the Mira Hong Kong hotel yesterday, striking and killing a pedestrian below.
A police spokesperson confirmed to Coconuts Hong Kong this morning that the cleaner — a 39-year-old Nepalese national and Hong Kong ID-holder — had been released on bail yesterday, but had to return to the police station today to assist with the investigation into the incident.
Local media outlet Apple Daily, meanwhile, today identified the woman killed as Zuo Shaofeng, a 24-year-old from the city of Foshan in Guangdong province who was visiting Hong Kong for the first time. She and her boyfriend, a 36-year-old surnamed Huang, were planning on spending seven days in the city.
The couple were staying in a hotel in Yau Ma Tei, and had gone for a walk to Tsim Sha Tsui around 10am, passing the Mira Hong Kong at the time the window, and its frame, fell.
According to local media reports, the cleaner had opened the window because the room she was cleaning smelled of cigarette smoke.
A representative of the Miramar Group, which owns the Mira Hong Kong, told Coconuts Hong Kong today that she was unable to comment in detail on the case, and as such, could not say whether it was standard procedure for cleaners at the hotel to open windows while cleaning.
She added that the company “will be cooperating with the police and the Buildings Department investigations.”
Ming Pao newspaper, which sent a reporter to Zuo’s hometown, reported that her younger brother said the family hasn’t been able to send relatives to Hong Kong because of visa issues, but that he’s trying to travel here as soon as possible so that he can bring his sister’s body back.
Friends of the deceased had to go to Queen Elizabeth Hospital yesterday to identify the body.
Buildings Department personnel were also at the hotel yesterday to inspect the windows, and told local media that they had not received any reports of defective windows at the Mira Hong Kong prior to the incident.
Separately, a window at the Fu Shin Estate in Tai Po also fell from the building and crashed into the sidewalk yesterday, according to HK01, though no one was injured.
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