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A male construction worker in his thirties died on Monday after falling from scaffolding on the exterior of a building in Kowloon City.
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At around noon, the 39-year-old victim surnamed Lai was inspecting the rooftop of the building on Sa Po Road alongside a colleague when he plunged about 10 floors.
He landed on scaffolding on the fourth floor, where he was found unconscious and trapped.
Firefighters rushed to the scene and spent more than an hour extricating the safety manager from the scaffolding before bringing him down to a platform.
He was rushed to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, where he was pronounced dead at 2.19pm after emergency resuscitation efforts failed.
The Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims (ARIAV) stated that its staff had rushed to the scene to inspect the situation and are currently accompanying the deceased's family at the hospital, adding that they will continue to follow up on the case and provide appropriate assistance.
Fay Siu Sin-man, Chief Executive of ARIAV, pointed out that this incident marks the 17th fatal case in Hong Kong's construction industry since the beginning of this year.
Expressing her deep sorrow over the tragedy, she urged relevant government departments to conduct a thorough review to prevent similar accidents from happening again.
The Labour Department has dispatched personnel to the site to launch an investigation into the cause of the industrial accident, and police have opened an inquiry.
The building involved is the former Regal Oriental Hotel, which is currently undergoing conversion works to be transformed into a youth hostel.
