Driver ‘tried to stop’ runaway bus before it hit pedestrians

An empty school minibus that mowed down pedestrians in North Point Monday and then crashed into a building, leaving two people dead and a dozen injured, reportedly started moving after the driver left the vehicle.

The accident happened at 1:50pm at the junction of King’s Road and Hei Wo Street, Apple Daily reported. Police said one person died at the scene and another at hospital. Four men and two women are in critical conditions and two men and two women are in serious conditions.

Radio Television Hong Kong reported that the driver appeared to be running in front of the bus in an effort to stop it after discovering that the vehicle was moving. He had just stopped outside a school in Cheung Hong Street. A video seems to confirm that the minibus began moving forward as soon as the driver had parked and left the vehicle.

The bus then careens down the road, sideswiping a taxi, and hits the pedestrians. It finally crashes into the gate of Empire Apartment.

“An initial investigation shows a school bus mounted a pavement and people were trapped under the vehicle,” a police spokesman said.

The bus initially smashed into one side of Hei Wo Street, hitting several people, but then swung across to the opposite side of the street and hit the apartments.