Ninety-three people were taken to hospital after a crash on Friday involving a lorry and four coaches carrying schoolchildren and senior citizens.

The pile-up happened shortly before 1pm near the Kwun Tong entrance of the Tseung Kwan O Tunnel.

Shen Chuen, commander of Lam Tin Fire Station, said it took firefighters more than an hour to rescue 244 people from the vehicles. One of the coach drivers was trapped for about 40 minutes.

"This accident involved a lot of young kids and another group of elderly people on the four coaches. It took a lot of manpower for our department to take care of them all. And we needed to calm them down after the traffic accident," Shen said.

"One of the coaches that was carrying all the elderly people collided with the vehicle in front and the door could not be opened normally. We had to use the emergency exit to get all the elderly people out and that took us quite a lot of time."

Three of the coaches in the pile-up were carrying some 180 students and teachers from SKH Tak Tin Lee Shiu Keung Primary School, who were returning from a trip in Ma On Shan.

According to a statement from the school, primary three and four students who were either injured or felt unwell had been taken to hospital.

It added a crisis management team is handling the incident.

Senior ambulance officer Wong Po-lung said the injured were taken to various hospitals and most only suffered scrapes in the collision.

Traffic police officer Lee Pok-kit said the force suspects the vehicles rammed into each other after a minibus in front of them slowed down to give way to a taxi changing lanes.

Lee said the drivers involved in the smash passed breathalyser tests, adding that their vehicles and dashcams would be inspected.

All Tseung Kwan O-bound lanes of Tseung Kwan O Road were temporarily closed to traffic for a while after the incident.
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Last updated: 2023-03-24 HKT 19:39