HONG KONG – Hong Kong on Friday rallied behind a family that lost three of its members in the bloody bus hijacking in the Philippines, as the sole surviving son underwent surgery for a serious head injury.
The Leung family, Hong Kong natives who hold Canadian passports, have become the emotional focal point of this southern Chinese territory following a 12-hour hostage-taking that played out at a Manila park and left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.
Just after the standoff ended late Monday with police shooting the hostage-taker, devastated mother Amy described to TV cameras at the scene how her husband had tried to subdue the hijacker, but was killed in gunfire.
Amy, who was unhurt, wondered about the fate of her three children who were also on the tour bus_ only to find out later that daughters Doris, 21, and Jessie, 14, were also fatally shot.
That left 18-year-old son Jason, who suffered a head injury that left him in a coma. The teenager, a graduate of Bronte College secondary school in the Canadian city of Mississauga, Ontario, was flown back to Hong Kong late Thursday for further treatment. A doctor removed part of his skull to ease the swelling of his brain and inserted a monitor on Friday.
Dr. Dawson Fong told reporters the procedure was successful, but Jason's fever had spiked since the surgery and was being treated with a heavy dose of antibiotics.
"His intracranial pressure has stayed at an acceptable level since the surgery. And we can see since we created an opening in his skull, it's been easier to control his vital signs, so he is relatively stable," Fong said.
The neurosurgeon, however, refused to give a prognosis, citing respect for the family.
Fong said he couldn't determine how the wound was inflicted because he is not the first doctor to treat him. A Filipino doctor who treated Jason said earlier he may have been struck by the butt of a gun.
Meanwhile, Hong Kongers have poured affection toward the teenager and his mother.
Newspapers ran messages of encouragement in front-page headlines on Friday. "Hang in there! Song-xue," Ta Kung Pao wrote, using the 18-year-old's Chinese name. "Jason, Keep at it!" Apple Daily said. Facebook users have set up support groups called "You have to live" and "Jason Leung: Get up soon. Your mother is waiting for you to go home."
Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang visited Jason and his mother on Friday.
"I hope Mrs. Leung will take care of herself too besides nursing Jason. She was very peaceful just now. She even told me not to worry," Tsang said afterward.
Tsang and his wife Selina also attended a mass for Jason's father, Ken Leung, late Thursday. The gathering at the secondary school that the 58-year-old businessman attended drew a turnout of 1,200 people, Ming Pao Daily News reported on Friday.
