The immediate aftermath of a fatal scooter crash on Thursday night was captured on video by a man who noticed the rider’s leg splayed from between the scooter and a stationary crane and called emergency services, with footage widely shared through local WhatsApp groups.

The footage purports to come from a motorcycle rider who had driven past the crash site and says he saw “a leg hanging out and made a U-turn to check what’s up.”

The victim, 53-year-old Mr Lee, was riding a motor scooter along Container Port Road South late on Thursday night when he struck the stationary 16-wheel construction crane illegally parked on the carriageway.

Fire crews eventually freed Lee and rushed him to Princess Margaret Hospital unconscious, where he died less than an hour after the crash.

Speaking in Punjabi, the 999-caller videoing the scene gives a commentary of what he sees, noting the rider slumped over the scooter with blood pouring from his helmet.

“Now fireman are attempting to save him, may Allah help him survive,” says the man after fire crews arrive.

In his commentary, the man says the police and ambulance crews were prevented by law from pulling the victim out of the wreckage to try to save him, and that paramedics were made to wait until fire services had finished their rescue.

Emergency services would not comment on the protocols of treatment.

Police say they are still investigating.

Such crashes are becoming increasingly common. In September, a 60-year old man died when he crashed his car into an illegally parked container in Yuen Long, while a man died when his van struck a stationary truck on the Yuen Long Highway.

And in August, a bus driver died after smashing into a stalled truck on Tuen Mun Road, while a similar deadly bus crash happened at the Western Harbour Crossing in 2019.