HK legislators to hold Sars inquiry

By Chris Hogg BBC Hong Kong correspondent

Hong Kong legislators have voted to set up their own inquiry into the government's handling of the Sars outbreak.

The territory's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa could be called to explain his actions before the select committee of investigation - a first in Hong Kong's history.

Legislators said an experts' inquiry had not gone far enough

The legislators said it was important that top officials should be held accountable if they made mistakes.

Lawmakers from both pro-government and opposition parties backed the call to hold their own investigation into Sars.

They said the public wanted an independent inquiry not to target particular officials or institutions, but because they needed to know the truth about what went wrong.

A previous investigation by a panel of experts appointed by the government to investigate its handling of the Sars outbreak had not gone far enough, they said.

That report stopped short of blaming any individual for the failures it discovered.

Now there will be another inquiry, but time is tight.

Members called for the select committee to begin its work immediately to ensure it can be completed before the end of the current session next summer.

That means those officials tasked with preventing a recurrence of Sars this winter could find themselves justifying their actions during the last outbreak at the same time.