Parents of injured dancer granted 'compassion' visit

The parents of a dancer critically injured when a gigantic screen fell on him at a Mirror concert visited him at Queen Elizabeth Hospital yesterday afternoon, hours after flying in on a red-eye flight from Canada.

The parents of Mo Lee Kai-yin, 27, were escorted by airline staff and medical personnel as they exited Hong Kong International Airport at 7.15am and boarded a seven-seater to a quarantine hotel after their Cathay Pacific flight CX829 from Toronto landed at 5.40am.

Sources said Lee's father, Reverend Derek Li Shing-lam, and mother have been allowed on compassionate grounds to see their youngest son at the public hospital's intensive care unit immediately after their arrival.

Their Covid PCR tests returned negative.

The Department of Health said the city has always had arrangements for compassionate visits and that authorities have approved 1,240 applications between April 1 last year and March 31 this year.

It said this is so people can see their family members in critical condition or to attend funerals and that authorities will provide point-to-point transport service.

It was understood that Lee's parents met three department heads of the hospital's ICU, neurosurgery and spinal surgery. The parents arrived and left the hospital through a special channel so they could avoid media waiting outside the ICU ward.

They left the hospital by a government minibus accompanied by personnel in protective gowns at about 1.30pm after staying for an hour.

Lee, who may be paralyzed from the neck down, is fighting for his life after two surgeries on Friday for a fractured cervical vertebrae and internal bleeding in the brain.

The Hospital Authority said Lee was classified in critical condition due to the use of a breathing machine during his surgeries, but added his vital signs were stable.

Lee was hit by the 500-kilogram screen measuring four meters high and wide during the popular boy band's fourth day of a 12-show concert on Thursday at Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom.

Another dancer, Chang Tsz-fung, 29, was also knocked over by the massive screen. Chang suffered minor injuries and was discharged on Friday after treatment in Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Three female spectators suffered from shock and one had to be sent to hospital.

Twenty-three dancers who performed in the concert, including Chang, yesterday issued a joint statement, saying there was no fundraising drive for the injured and reminded the public not to believe in any crowdfunding pleas in relation to the accident. Their statement said one more dancer, Zisac Law Tak-chi, was also injured in the accident.

The dancers also called on the public not to blame the boy band Mirror.

"The 12 members of Mirror and us have been doing our utmost to perform and they are going through a difficult time with us. Please do not attribute the responsibility to any performer in the concert," the statement read.

The dancers said they are still waiting for the investigation results so they will not make any comments or take any media interviews.

They added: "All comments and speeches will only be issued through our individual social media account. Please do not believe in any anonymous comment."

The dancers said the latest information on the three injured dancers' health conditions will only be released by official channels.

Several members of the boy band and their talent manager Wong Wai-kwan, better known as Sister Fa, shared the dancers' statement on Instagram but have remained silent since the accident.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com

Editorial: An accident waiting to happen?