Forensic examination confirms 35 of the 62 bullet marks found on Hong Tai Travel bus were fired from outside the bus. Raymond Chan Siu-kei, forensic firearms examiner, said he believes 17 of the rounds fired into the bus may have hit passengers.

The inquest into the Manila hostage tragedy, which took place on Aug 23, 2010, learned Wednesday that most of the bullets fired during the incident came from outside the tourist bus, in which eight Hong Kong residents died.

Superintendent Raymond Chan Siu-kei from the Police Forensic Firearms Examination Bureau told the Coroner's Court that 17 of the total 62 rounds were fired in such a way that they might have injured passengers.

Chan said he based his conclusions on his on-site investigation of the Hong Tai Travel bus.

Chan said he was able to determine conclusively that 35 of the total 62 bullet marks found on the bus's exterior were fired from outside the bus.

Another 17 marks possibly resulted from external gun fire, since their trajectories cannot be established, according to Chan.

Only 10 bullet marks were confirmed to have been fired from inside the tourist bus, according to Chan.

The hostage taker, 55-year-old Rolando Mendoza, a corrupt ex-police officer, is the only person known to have carried weapons on board the bus, according to testimony thus far.

"During the investigation, one thing we were concerned about most was the chance that these bullets could injure passengers inside," said Chan.

The police officer elaborated that 17 of the 35 bullets fired externally could have struck passengers.

Another six of the 17 unidentified rounds may have injured passengers if they were fired externally.

Most of the bullet holes were located near the front door of the bus and on the windscreen.

Ten shots were found to have been fired into the front door of the bus, close to where 31-year-old tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chun had been handcuffed.

Another 10 rounds were fired into the bus through the windscreen, toward the driver's seat.

Bullet marks also were found on windows next to passenger seats, where two of the victims, Fu Cheuk-yan and Leung Kam-wing, were believed to have been seated.

The trajectories of those two rounds, however, have not been established with certainty.

Some 14 bullet marks were found inside of the riddled bus - in the seats, the television set, audio speakers and so on.

Weapons used by Mendoza were an M16A1 assault rifle and a government-issued Colt handgun.

Chan told the hearing he had done his own testing on the spent casings and rounds from Mendoza's weapons.

"The test aims to collect evidence on the performance of the weapon provided by Philippine authorities, as the basis for ballistics analysis," said Chan.

Chan will continue to give ballistics evidence on Thursday.

China Daily

(HK Edition 03/03/2011 page1)