Transport authorities order probe after crash paralyses traffic on airport link

Operator of Tsing Ma Control Area told to submit report after truck collision leads to hours of gridlock during evening rush hour

Hong Kong transport authorities have ordered the operator of a major road link feeding the airport to explain its handling of an accident that paralysed traffic during evening rush hour, leaving commuters fuming.

Traffic between Lantau Island and Kowloon was snarled for more than three hours after a medium goods vehicle overturned following a collision with another vehicle on the Cheung Tsing Highway in Tsing Yi on Wednesday.

Police said they were alerted at 7.36pm and the drivers of the two vehicles were sent to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung for treatment of injuries.

The Transport Department said on Thursday that it had instructed the operator of the Tsing Ma Control Area, a major corridor connecting urban Hong Kong to the airport on Lantau Island, to investigate the incident and submit a detailed report along with recommendations for improvement.

The department noted that police officers arriving at the scene initially towed the overturned vehicle to the middle and fast lanes to ease congestion before later removing it.

“The operator was cooperating with police in the rescue efforts and dispatched light and heavy-duty rescue vehicles, as required by the contract, which arrived at the scene after 7.30pm last night,” it said.