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Sad ending for 60-year love affair
(STANDARD) 11月 09日 星期五 05:30AM
A love affair that began 60 years ago ended in tragedy early yesterday when a 68-year-old woman died in her Sheung Shui apartment - with accusing fingers pointing at poverty and
lax border inspections.
Li Chuan-yi had suffered a stroke on November 4 in her son's home in Xian. But because the family was unable to pay the exorbitant hospital charges in the mainland, Li and her 67-year-old husband, Xian Xuekai, decided to return to Hong Kong for treatment.
They could not afford to take a plane.
Their son, a driver for the local police, could only afford their train fares.
Doctors provided the couple with a saline solution and glucose for the journey, which took two nights and one day while the son gave them an oxygen tank.
The couple left Xian on November 6 and arrived in Hong Kong early yesterday.
Li closed her eyes as her husband escorted her through the immigration and customs checks.
No one approached her to ask if she was unwell.
She was wearing a baseball cap as she passed through customs and her husband had disconnected the oxygen tank as the water had run out.
On reaching their Tin Ping Estate home in Sheung Shui in the early hours of yesterday morning her husband tried to telephone for an ambulance but said he could not because he held only a mainland telephone calling card.
So he pressed the emergency button to alert the estate's security.
But by the time the paramedics and police arrived at 4.30am, Li was dead.
The couple had first met in Beijing when they were children.
However, they were separated and both married other spouses. After Xian's wife left him, he contacted Li and after they met, Li decided to ask her husband for a divorce.
They got married in Beijing in 1996 and in 2001 Xian joined his wife in Hong Kong where she has lived since 1989.
In 2003, the couple paid a visit to Xian to see their son.
Li fell ill during the visit and spent 40 days in hospital.
The hospital charges left them almost penniless.
It was not until this August that they were able to visit their son in Xian again.
The Immigration Department said it could not comment on individual cases but pointed out there is a customs contact point at the border crossing for the handicapped and the elderly who are not feeling well.
現代版 愛的故事 並非劇集才能看見@@~
亦見兩個關口的疏忽。
[ 本帖最後由 超君 於 2007-11-10 21:58 編輯 ] |
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發表於 2007-11-10 21:53:23