12 hurt in horror bus crash

At least 12 people - 10 bus passengers, the driver and a pedestrian, a 14-year-old girl - were injured yesterday after the 32-year-old driver of a KMB double-decker lost control and crashed into a lamppost near a bus stop at Choi Hung Estate in Wong Tai Sin.

The accident happened around 12.13pm when the route 277X bus was heading toward Lam Tin and rammed into the lamppost near Pik Hoi House bus stop.

The 14-year-old girl was lucky to escape with just head injuries as the lampost landed on the roof of the bus stop. She was standing by the side of the bus stop along with her mother, who was not hurt.

A fleet of five ambulances were deployed to the scene to ferry the injured people, including the bus driver, to hospitals.

A 64-year-old bus passenger and the teenage girl with head injuries were sent to Queen Elizabeth and United Christian hospitals.

All nine have been discharged after treatment.

The windscreen of the bus was smashed with fragments of glass scattered on the ground.

Both police and KMB are investigating the accident.

No charge has been laid against the driver as of yet.

The incident marks another major accident involving pedestrians after two people - a young woman and elderly man - died after they were hit by a speeding vehicle which lost control, ran onto a sidewalk and crashed head-on into a shop in San Po Kong on New Year's Eve.

The two pedestrians died and three others were injured after the car mounted the pavement in the evening and crashed into an industrial unit beside a convenience store. The male driver, 25, was also injured.

Police said apparently the vehicle went out of control on Tai Yau Street, San Po Kong, and plowed through railings before crashing into a shuttered unit in Tin Hung Industrial Building.