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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mrs Regina Ip, in the Legislative Council today (June 26):

Question:

It was reported that on 8th and 11th of this month respectively, an elderly man jumped onto the track at a MTR station and was crushed to death by a train and a young man plunged to his death from a building. Their badly mutilated bodies covered in blood were not removed from the scenes until after more than three hours, causing emotional disturbance to many passers-by who saw the dead bodies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the general procedure and the time usually required for removing the dead bodies in respect of unnatural death or dead body found cases;

(b) of the details concerning the handling of the dead bodies in the two cases, the reasons for taking more than three hours to remove them, and whether it was due to a shortage of manpower or communication problems between the departments concerned; and

(c) whether it has reviewed if the departments concerned have made mistakes in handling the two cases, and whether it has considered other courses of actions which are more respectful of the feelings of the deceased's family members and cause less inconvenience to the public?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) In removing dead bodies in unnatural death or dead body found cases, the Police will, depending on the circumstances of individual cases, assume different responsibilities and take different actions. In general, a uniform branch officer will take the following actions at the scene where a corpse is found:

* check whether there is any sign of life;

* remain at the scene and maintain communication with the Regional Command and Control Centre, immediately request for ambulances to rescue the injured if suspect that the person concerned still has chance to live, and/or request for the turn out of criminal investigation units if there is suspicion that crimes have occurred;

* identify witnesses and record their particulars;

* examine in detail the environment of the scene to see if there is any suspicion and note all observations in the record book;

* ascertain the identity of the deceased and arrange to inform the family members concerned;

* after the completion of all Police operations, ask for the turn out of the dead removal teams of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD);

* escort the transfer of the corpse to public mortuaries; and

* search the corpse and record details of properties found from the deceased.

According to the Force Procedure Manuel, if the Police receive reports of cases of "persons fell from height", the police officer who first arrived at the scene should examine the surrounding environment to see if there is any suspicion. Unless there is apparent evidence indicating so, the case should not be classified as suicide lightly and the dead body should not be removed. Apart from the above, police officers should also consider whether blood or body fluid found in the scene would pose any danger to themselves or other persons. Other potential threats, such as proximity to heavy machinery, traffic conditions of the roads or tracks concerned, should also be considered. Unless all Police operations have been finished and safety has been confirmed, the dead removal team of FEHD will not be asked to come to scene for removal of corpses. This is to avoid holding up FEHD staff at the scene unnecessarily before they can start their removal work.

The time required for the removal of dead bodies depends on the complexity of investigation required at the scene and hence cannot be generalized. Under normal circumstances, FEHD can remove the corpse from the scene about one hour after they are informed of Police's request for their service.

(b) Details of the two incidents mentioned in the question are as follows:

The first incident happened at 8.42 am on June 8 this year. The Police were informed by the Command Centre of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation that something resembling body parts of a person were found on the railway track in Ngau Tau Kok Station. Police officer of the MTR district arrived at the scene in one minute. Preliminary observations confirmed that the items found were body parts of a person and the police commenced investigation into the incident immediately. Ambulance also arrived at the scene 15 minutes later. As the person had already been torn into parts and was obviously dead, the ambulanceman did not pick up the dead body. Service from the FEHD dead removal team was requested instead. Meanwhile, to find out whether there was any suspicious circumstances relating to the death of the deceased, the Police conducted investigation at the scene, collect evidence, identify witnesses and collect body tissues and blood sample etc. from the deceased, in accordance with established guidelines. After all the initial investigation work at the scene had been completed, the corpse was picked up by the dead removal team at 11 am and was transported to public mortuary. This case required relatively longer period of time for removal of dead body because the dead removal team could only start to pick up the body parts on the railway track after the MTR station staff had rescheduled the MTR trains.

The second incident occurred at 9.43 am on June 11 this year. The Police received a call at the 999 hotline, reporting a case of "person fell from height" in Lee Cheng Uk Estate in Cheung Sha Wan. Police officer turned up at the scene five minutes after the time of report. Ambulance also arrived shortly. The ambulanceman did not remove the dead body after having confirmed that the person was already dead. The deceased was a young person with no identification documents found on his body, and it could not be ascertained from where the deceased had fallen. The case could not be classified as a suicide case right away and the Police had to conduct initial investigation to determine whether there was any suspicion about the case. The Police conducted searches at the adjacent building and examined video tapes recorded by CCTVs of elevators. It was subsequently confirmed that the deceased entered the elevator on the second floor. The Police identified the mother of the deceased by paying visits to households on the second floor of the building. The identity of the deceased was confirmed and the mother also revealed that the deceased was suffering from stress related to examinations before his death. The case was classified as suicide after initial confirmation that there was no suspicion of foul play. The Police requested service from dead removal team of FEHD at 12.23 pm and the corpse was removed at 1.10 pm.

In both incidents, the departments concerned have taken prompt actions in accordance with relevant guidelines and have the dead bodies removed within reasonable timeframe. There was no delay. The Police and the FEHD have sufficient manpower to handle the work and effective communications is maintained between the departments.

(c) In handling the two incidents, the relevant departments did not neglect the feelings of the deceased's family members and the possibility of causing inconvenience to the public. Both cases were handled in accordance with established procedures by the Police and FEHD, and were finished in the shortest time possible. In the first incident, the dead body was covered by a black cloth once the police officer had arrived at the scene. Most of the platform concerned was cordoned off, leaving behind only the foremost part of the platform, which is the farthest away from the location where the dead body was found, for boarding and alighting by passengers. The body parts of the deceased were all out of the sight of the passengers. This arrangement was to prevent causing any unpleasant feeling to the passengers. In fact, staff of the station had not received any complaint. As regards the second incident, the corpse was covered by a blanket from an ambulance during the entire process of investigation. When it rained, an additional water-resistant black cloth was put on top of the blanket. The Police had conducted an evaluation regarding this incident and concluded that actions taken on the day were appropriate.

End/Wednesday, June 26, 2002

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