A total of 13 men and 17 women were injured when a tour bus they were travelling in collided with a lorry and a dump truck on Estrada de Pac On in Taipa, among whom the 38-year-old male driver had to be freed by firemen, the Fire Services Bureau (CB) said yesterday.
The accident took place at about 1 p.m. yesterday near the Friendship Bridge exit in Taipa, according to a CB statement.
The 29 injured passengers on the tour coach – 12 males and 17 females, aged between 22 and 68, holding Macau Resident ID (BIR) cards, local work permits (colloquially known as “blue card”), Hong Kong ID cards and Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau (colloquially known as Two-way Permit) respectively, sustained minor injuries, suffering from contusions on the lips, corners of the eyes, and the arms and legs, the statement said, adding that all of them remained conscious while they were being rushed to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre. The coach driver, a local resident, suffered a contusion and swelling of the right knee and was admitted to the private Kiang Wu Hospital.
A total of 45 people were involved in the crash, among whom nine men and six women did not require hospital treatment, the statement noted.
In response to the accident, the Public Security Police (PSP) said in a statement that all the three drivers involved in the collision passed a breathalyser test, and after a preliminary investigation PSP officers believe that the coach failed to keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front of it. The PSP statement identified the tour bus as a casino resort shuttle bus.
The lorry and dump truck drivers are mainlanders with special driving licences to work legally in Macau, the statement noted.
Meanwhile, Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes told reporters on the sidelines of a kick-off ceremony of its new joint promotion campaign yesterday at the Lok Yoeng Fa Yuen Building leisure area in Fai Chi Kei district that MGTO had been in touch with the Fire Services Bureau about the accident, adding that MGTO had not received any direct requests for assistance from the 24 visitors injured in the crash.
The tourism chief said that MGTO was being kept up-to-date on the accident and its aftermath, and would provide assistance as appropriate: “The coach involved is a casino shuttle bus carrying passengers to and from hotels and border checkpoints, not carrying a tour group. Both the relevant integrated resort (IR) operator and travel agent providing the coach service have sent their staff to the hospitals to follow up on the accident.”
The mainland’s Labour Day “Golden Week” this year will run from May 1-5, i.e., from tomorrow through Sunday. Senna Fernandes said that the travel sector, including hotels and tourist guides, had been reminded two weeks ago to do a better job of welcoming tourists and to pay close attention to travel-related matters, including reminding visitors to comply with traffic rules and other regulations, as well as the requirements of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Law and the Law on the Prevention and Control on Minors’ Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages.
Police officers and firefighters work at the site of the collision involving a lorry, tour coach and dump truck in Estrada de Pac On, near Friendship Bridge, in Taipa at about 1 p.m. yesterday, with several of the ill-fated coach passengers waiting to board a police vehicle to leave the scene. – Photo courtesy of TDM
