On June 18, 1972, a deadly landslide at Kotewall Road claimed 67 lives and injured 20. These photos, which depict the aftermath of the disaster, were taken with a Nikon F camera by a Flickr user, who was a teenager at the time living at Lyttelton Road – just one level below Kotewall Road. The negatives were recently recovered and scanned.
“Kotewall Road was blocked from the landslide that originated from above Po Shan Road. British Forces’ heavy equipment were brought in overnight from the Fortress Squadron, Royal Engineers over at Sham Shui Po barracks in Kowloon. The residential building at No.12 Kotewall Road collapsed as a result of the mud pushing down,” the photographer said.
“This photo clearly shows the top few floors of the Robinson Road block being chopped off the corner.”
This picture shows British Forces and local firemen inspecting the site of the accident.
The landslide was one of many that plagued Hong Kong in 1972. A total of 148 people were killed in major landslides that year, and many apartment complexes and houses were wiped out.
Heavy rainfall the year before brought on by Typhoon Rose resulted in waterlogged soil; a series of storms in 1972 then triggered the landslides.
