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A century-old erythina (also known as coral tree) on Stanley Street, Island East, suddenly split apart at the base on Wednesday afternoon and one half of the 18-meter tree collapsed on the narrow road below, crushing a young woman underneath. She later died in a hospital.
Two teenage girls were also hurt by fallen branches and taken to hospital for treatment. They were hospitalized in stable for observation that night.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has a list of more than 470 ancient trees throughout Hong Kong , including the fallen one in Stanley. It would focus its resources on an emergency inspection of all listed ancient trees and hoped to complete the project within one month, said LCSD Director Chow Ta-ming at a press conference that night, adding his department may hire professionals on the market for the job if the tight schedule calls for extra help.
Lee Pui-ying, an Island East district councilor, said after the tragedy on Wednesday that people had noticed bad smell wafting from the old tree as early as two ears ago and suggested it be cut down, but LCSD rejected the idea citing as an excuse the fact that it is on the list of protected ancient trees.
The partially broken erythina is more than 100 years old and sits between two six-storey townhouses on Stanley Street. Unlike most of its kind, the 18m-tall ancient tree has grown into a Y shape with the branching point quite close to the ground. Its diameter at the base is 70 cm.
It suddenly split apart from the branching point down at 4:32pm Wednesday and one half of it fell over Chong and two girls aged 12 and 13, who happened to walk by. Chong's chest was crushed by the main branch with a lot of blood streaming out of her mouth, indicating serious internal trauma. The two young girls were quickly pulled by other passersby from under the fallen canopy with minor injuries.
One witness, who identified herself as Miss Chan, said she heard a loud noise when the tree fell down and thought at first a building had collapsed. Then she saw a young woman pinned under the fallen main branch with a stream of blood coming out of her mouth and unconscious. ■春生 資深翻譯員
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