District Councils seem unsure how to respond to the serious crane collapse in Lok Ma Chau Loop yesterday: the innovation park site is in an administrative no-man’s land on the Hong Kong border

Five workers were hospitalised yesterday afternoon after a crane carrying a two-tonne concrete block collapsed and fell around 20 metres at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP) being constructed in the Lok Ma Chau wetlands.

Police say the workers, all male aged between 18 and 51, were on a rooftop when they struck by the falling crane structure. One suffered a broken pelvis, others suffered abrasions and back injuries.

All were taken to local hospitals conscious.

HSITP is a planned 88-hectare science and technology park, directed by Permanent Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Eddie Mak Tak-wai.

The Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau told local news it attached “great importance” to worker safety and had ordered an investigation.

The area is unusual in that the land was a “gift” from Shenzhen after the straightening of the Sham Chun River: to date, the government has not assigned the land to a Hong Kong district, meaning it has no District Council representative.

Neither North District nor Yuen Long District responded to questions on the administration of the loop or worker protections at the no-man’s land site.

Labour Department and Development Bureau are yet to comment.

Construction is the most dangerous sector in Hong Kong, recording 3,097 industrial “accidents” in 2023, up from 3,046 in 2022 and accounting for almost 40% of all industrial incidents, according to Labour Department.