Eddie Luk
Wednesday, 8/08/2012
Four members of a ghost-hunting TV crew were hit by the mysterious collapse of a giant tree as they picked their way through an area linked to hauntings.
Fortunately, said rescuers, a guardian spirit must have been at work too, for the crew members escaped with their lives from yesterday afternoon's incident in Ma On Shan.
But two of the crew from i-Cable were hurt badly enough to be in hospital last night after the unexplained fall of the 18-meter Acacia confusa, known as the Philippine or Taiwan acacia.
Investigators could not offer an immediate explanation as to why the tree toppled when there was no wind sweeping through the location - a barbecue area near the beach on Lok Wo Sha Lane.
Team members had been carrying their equipment through the area just before 4pm when their supernatural mission came to a crashing halt.
A 48-year-old cameraman was hit on the head and neck and a veteran audio engineer took hits to his head and back.
Both remained conscious and received medical treatment from paramedics at the scene before being taken to Prince of Wales Hospital. Both were stable last night.
Two others, one the ghost program producer, suffered minor injuries.
The i-Cable program, Strange Talk, is hosted by Spencer Leung Sze-ho, who is also a radio personality.
It features paranormal and supernatural happenings in Hong Kong and neighboring locations. It is generally based on Buddhist, Taoist or Chinese superstitions. Sometimes the format is that of a reality show, with segments direct from a scene of reported hauntings.
A mundane thought on the fall was that it was a delayed reaction to the fury of Typhoon Vicente, which struck two weeks ago. Then, more than 1,700 trees collapsed immediately.
The fall also follows soon after a Chinese Banyan collapsed on a day of regular weather on the Park Lane Shoppers' Boulevard in Tsim Sha Tsui, injuring four women and a man.
