- Mirror fans wait for answers on why giant TV screen broke free and crashed onto concert dancers
- Chief Executive John Lee orders special task force to investigate the incident in bid to prevent similar tragedies
Tens of thousands of Mirror fans remain angry and upset several days after a massive video screen fell onto the stage and struck two dancers during the Canto-pop boy band’s concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum last Thursday, leaving one of them in critical condition in intensive care.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu ordered a special task force to investigate the incident, but authorities said it might take weeks to release its findings.
Here the Post looks at five key questions still to be answered as concerns mount over the safety of stage sets and fans speculate on how the tragedy might affect Mirror and the band’s legions of followers.
1. Who designed the set that featured the massive screens and made alterations over the course of performances?
The accident happened last Thursday night when dancer Mo Lee Kai-yin, 27, was hit by a giant four-by-four-metre screen suspended over the stage which broke free during a performance led by two Mirror members, Anson Lo Hon-ting and Edan Lui Cheuk-on. Lee suffered serious injuries and may be paralysed from the neck down.
Preliminary investigations found that one of two metal cables used to suspend the screen snapped in the middle of the performance and that the lock on the other cable “looked seemingly loosened”.
The government’s investigation, which should take around seven to eight weeks, was organised to establish the reasons behind the tragedy.
“We hope to find out how to resolve the issue at hand. There are lots of questions to be answered,” Louis Szeto Ka-sing, a former chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers’ mechanical, marine, naval architecture and chemical division who was invited to sit on the investigative panel, said after its first meeting on Monday.
Szeto explained the committee had to wait for test results on parts of the stage set before it could move forward with its investigation.
Some members of the public also discovered by examination of video clips that the screens only moved horizontally on the first two nights when Lo and Lui performed, but they were changed to move vertically from the third night.
[Lilian Cheng/SCMP – original article]
[Picture – SCMP]
