Scenes after a horror smash in Kwun Tong last night after the driver of a Johnson cleaning truck lost control and rammed five vehicles, killing a pedestrian on the pavement (photos: Facebook)

A government-contracted driver lost control of his cleaning truck last night, ploughing into five vehicles and causing a shunt which killed a 65-year-old pedestrian on the pavement.

65-year-old driver Mr Luk was driving a Johnson cleaning truck along narrow Shui Wo Street when he lost control towards the T-junction with Fu Yan Street.

He reportedly rammed two taxis, a coach and a van, before striking a minibus at the minibus stand. That minibus was shunted onto the pavement and knocked down 65-year-old Mr Tong.

Tong was trapped and freed by firemen, severely injured and unconscious. He lost his fight for life an hour after the crash. The 63-year-old van driver, 50-year-old minibus driver and three female workers in the cleaning truck, aged between 53 and 66, were also injured and sent to United Christian Hospital conscious.

Police arrested the sanitation truck driver for dangerous driving causing death. “Police strongly condemn the irresponsible driving behaviour of the driver. It not only jeopardises the safety of other road users and threatens ones’ personal safety, but is also the actual cause of serious traffic accidents,” they said in a now-common copy-paste statement attached to all road death press releases.

The Johnson truck was used for carrying water and pressure-spraying equipment for contractor staff to hose down streets. Shui Wo Street is a market street crowded with pedestrians on narrow pavements, with one lane for driving and one lane fully occupied by illegal parking.

The crash was the third involving a Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) vehicle this month and the second in a less than a week – last Thursday, the driver of a government-owned garbage truck working for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) ran down and killed an elderly man in Cheung Sha Wan.

At the time, FEHD said it was not in a position to give any comment but that it was “deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident.”

And on 17 September, another garbage truck driver, working for FEHD contractor Baguio, ran down and killed a 93-year-old woman in Chai Wan.

FEHD has not responded to questions on the latest death nor has it answered questions on the seemingly high rate of deaths caused by its vehicles and contractors lately.