Fire_Brigade_1955-1956 — Page 11

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The number of Special Service Calls was much greater than in the preceding year. A disaster occurred at Tai Po Kau on the 28th August, 1955, in which a number of children and students enjoying a picnic outing lost their lives through drown- ing. This was the Colony's worst weekend holiday disaster, and claimed the lives of 28 picnickers, mostly children and students who were swept away suddenly when a cloudburst in the hills caused the stream by which they were picnicking to descend in torrent without warning. The children were mostly from the St. James Resettlement, Wanchai and the Kowloon Canton Railway Staff Club. Several other small picnic parties were in the area when the accident occurred. Many of the picnickers had taken shelter from the rain below the so-called Furious Ghost Bridge. The people sheltering under the bridge suddenly heard an ear-splitting noise and before they could escape, a solid wall of water began to roll into the stream from the cliff and swept them away. Only a few managed to escape. A call for assistance was received at 14.09 hours and two fire appliances and 3 ambulances responded. The Fire Brigade was in- strumental in saving two persons and recovering three bodies from the upper stretch of water and continued to search the lower reaches for further bodies. Life lines and stretchers were brought into commission down the hillside facing the sea and at the lower reaches of the stream, where some of the bodies were found. The Fire Brigade, assisted by the Police, operated at the lower reaches of the stream and began to remove dead bodies by stretchers and life lines taken over from the road way.

This operation was an extremely hazardous one, due to the steep gradient, slippery boulders and sections of loose rocks. The recovery of some of the bodies took as long as twenty minutes. This was an unusual type of disaster and happened so quickly that it was not possible to effect the rescue of more people as the sudden rush of water carried them away into deeper water before assistance arrived. It was also possible that fallen stones and pieces of rock had injured some of the persons. The search for bodies over a considerable distance and, in particular, the conveying of them up or down the steep and treacherous slopes was a strenuous operation and all ranks in attendance worked for several hours under very hazardous

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