Project manager charged with manslaughter over pipe tragedy at Elements mall

A 40-year-old project manager of the main contractor for the deadly underground pipe gas incident at Elements mall was rejected bail after he appeared at the Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts on Saturday morning. 

The defendant surnamed Ip was charged with a count of manslaughter for illegally killing the two workers at the West Kowloon mall’s construction site between Saturday and Sunday. 

Ip needed not to enter a plea yet and the court adjourned the hearing to the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on December 27, pending further police investigation. 

The defense applied for Ip to be released on bail but was rejected by the magistrate. Ip will appear at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts next Thursday (Oct 5) for reviewing his bail application. 

It was understood that the main contractor Raft (E&M) Engineering Ltd was hired by MTR Corp to carry out the underground pipe work and it outsourced the project to subcontractor Shum Development. 

The two deceased workers, 63-year-old Lau and 61-year-old Kwok, were employees of Shum Development. 

Shum Yuk-kuen, director of subcontractor Shum Development, was also charged with manslaughter and had appeared at the West Kowloon Court yesterday. The hearing for his case was adjourned to December 17.