- Motorist got out of Toyota Alphard after it broke down in the slow lane of San Tin Highway in Yuen Long
- Police said delivery truck failed to brake in time and ploughed into the back of the Toyota, shunting it forward. Truck was in turn rammed
Two truck drivers were arrested after a pile-up in which a motorist was hit and killed when he got out of his broken-down car on a motorway in northern Hong Kong on Thursday.
The accident " the city's third fatal road crash in six days " happened on San Tin Highway, Yuen Long shortly before 7.30am.
According to police, the white Toyota Alphard driven by a 53-year-old man broke down in the slow lane. As the driver left his vehicle, a delivery truck failed to brake in time and ploughed into the back of the Toyota, shunting it forward, said Inspector Kwok Chun-lok of New Territories North traffic unit.
Kwok said a container truck also failed to brake in time and rammed into the back of the other truck.
The motorist was found lying unconscious at the back of the container truck when police arrived.
"The driver of the car was pronounced dead at the scene. The 50-year-old driver of the container truck suffered minor leg injuries and was taken to Pok Oi Hospital (in Yuen Long) for treatment," Kwok said.
The other driver, 65, was unhurt.
Officers arrested the pair for dangerous driving causing death. Police said both men passed a breathalyser test. Kwok said police were investigating whether the victim was run over by both trucks.
He said officers were looking into various factors such as the drivers' health and mental state to establish the cause of the crash.
As of 1pm, the two suspects were being held for questioning and neither had been charged.
There were two other fatalities on Hong Kong's roads in the past week.
At 11pm on Monday, also in Yuen Long district, a man, 33, lost control of his delivery van, which mounted a pavement and knocked down a female pedestrian before toppling onto its side on Tai Tong Road. The woman, 27, was certified dead in Pok Oi Hospital at 12.21am on Tuesday.
On Saturday, a male minibus driver, 65, died after his vehicle rammed into the back of a car in Wai Chi Street, Sham Shui Po at about 10.45pm.
Police figures show 99 people were killed in 98 fatal road accidents in the first 11 months of this year.
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