Chunks of concrete rained down from a building onto a busy Mong Kok street on Wednesday morning, the second such incident involving the same block in just a few days.

Firefighters, police and buildings officials were sent to Po On Building on Mong Kok Road, with all lanes closed to traffic near Fa Yuen Street for a while. No injuries were reported.

Concrete plunged from the same block on Sunday afternoon, hitting a truck and injuring its driver. After that incident, police arrested two men on suspicion of allowing an object to fall from height.

The Buildings Department said the first lot of concrete came from an illegally built canopy on the 16th floor of the building that was subject to a mandatory repair notice back in 2014.

For the time being, the department has arranged contractors to install a safety net and scaffolds on the exterior of the building. Plastering which could peel off the walls will also be removed to ensure people's safety.

On Monday, officials said they believed there was no obvious danger to the overall building structure.

Some passers-by told RTHK on Wednesday that they were worried about a repeat of the incidents.

"I will walk on another street, or be very careful when passing by next time. There are many pedestrians on Mong Kok Road, especially the zebra crossings. An air conditioner fell down a long time ago. There are so many old buildings nearby," said a man surnamed Kwok.

A food stall vendor on Mong Kok Road said business might be affected by the back-to-back incidents, but he couldn't worry too much.

"It's not as serious as what happened a few days ago. There are only a few pieces of concrete on the ground. Last time, a big piece fell down, and it made a loud sound," he said.

DAB lawmaker Vincent Cheng, who represents the Kowloon West constituency, said he is disappointed that the Buildings Department had failed to deal with the issue following an earlier inspection.

"We hope that the Development Bureau can have a special mission to go inside and go have a look at all these buildings [that are] over 50 years," Cheng said. "If they find any danger, they go and fix it and repair it as soon as possible."

Development Secretary Bernadette Linn, for her part, said the government is highly concerned about the latest incident, and the director of buildings has been tasked with following up on inspection notices issued.

"She should take stock of all the buildings with outstanding inspection notices and do a thorough inspection and see which are the cases warranting priority action by the department, in terms of issuing enforcement notices, and also in terms of the department taking over some of the works as a matter of urgency and asking for reimbursement from the owners at a later stage," Linn said.

Later on Wednesday, the Buildings Department said it will issue warnings to buildings that have yet to comply with the mandatory inspection notices, adding it will look into why concrete fell off Po On Building again.

It will also ask the building's owners to conduct repair work as soon as possible.
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Last updated: 2023-07-05 HKT 21:02