A 60-year-old man has been charged with arson in connection with a fire on an MTR train on Friday which injured 19 people.

His case will be mentioned at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court on Monday, though police say he will not attend.

mtr carriage
The charred MTR carriage where the incident took places. Photo: StandNews.

Nine of the injured remain in hospital and three are in a critical condition, according to Health Secretary Ko Wing-man.

The suspect – who allegedly poured flammable liquid onto himself before setting it alight – had a history of mental illness and did not show up to his latest appointment to receive treatment.

Ko told reporters on Sunday that the government “attaches great importance to the provision of mental health services to these patients. We have actually since 2013 conducted a review on mental health services of Hong Kong.”

mtr fire tsim sha tsui
Police at the scene on Friday. Photo: Catherine Lai/HKFP.

The MTR Corporation has formed an investigation panel. Operations Director Adi Lau Tin-shing said that trains fitted with CCTV would be rolled out by 2018 at the earliest.

Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station reopened on Saturday following the incident.

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Tom founded Hong Kong Free Press in 2015 as the city's first crowdfunded newspaper. He has a BA in Communications and New Media from Leeds University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong. He previously founded an NGO advocating for domestic worker rights, and has contributed to the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Al-Jazeera and others.

Tom leads HKFP – raising funds, managing the team and navigating risk – whilst regularly speaking on press freedom, ethics and media funding at industry events, schools and conferences around the world.